Holy crap!

I finished 147th out of 208 finishers [11 DNFs] according to preliminary OBRA results. That means (if certified) I passed ~72 riders and DNFers in my 5 laps while starting dead last.

It also means I must have been passed out asleep for a lap, because I was only planning on doing 4.

Rock on.

Race report: Alpenrose Cross Crusade #1

I have been working out for this race since mid-July, and I realized I still have a long way to go to win one of these things. But that really wasn’t the point of me doing the race.

My overall goals were to be able to do 100 push-ups, 100 ab-roller things, and be able to run 2 miles. The race goals were simple “don’t finish last, and finish the race”.  Simple eh?

I was originally going to race in the beginner Cat at 8:40 AM, but there was no way in hell I was going to be able to get the family packed into the Element and there by 7am. We like our sleep and do not get much as it is with the little guy waking up 3 times a night.

So, I ended up in the Cat C 35+ group. ~200 riders who may have an idea of what they are doing and me trying not to kill myself.  Word has it that is was the largest field in the world, but that may have been just the announcer making stuff up.

I decided earlier that I’d race the Breed as the Jake was in need of too many repairs to make it a viable race bike. Too many hours in the Portland rain wearing out components and not enough money to replace them properly.  Plus I bought the Breed to race it.  Now is its time.

So the way Cross Crusade works this huge group is by grouping you by the number you pull during registration. My number was 618. Meaning I pulled a 8. The 8’s lined up dead last this week, but got a sixer of beer from Deschutes Brewery via River City Bikes. I consider that worth the hassle on it’s own.

So I sat with ~200ish riders in last place literally no one was behind me, on a single speed bike, and a certificate for a sixer in my pocket. The day was looking pretty darn good.

The bell rang and we were off. Right away I noticed a bunch of riders just moseying along and a hole opened up ahead. I punched it. I figured what the heck this is a race right? I think that was the key thinking in this whole adventure.

“I am at a race, not a joy ride”.

The first part of the course was through the dairy’s Old Town setup with asphalt that then went into a cow pasture/corral. They cleared the poo for us riders which I thought was nice of them.

Upon exiting the pasture/corral was a HUGE bottleneck to singletrack section up and then down.  I used this to recover a bit before the next big obstacle the run up wall. I walked this section when I first got to the dairy to check out the course. This thing was steep!  And then you had to basically turn back around and go back down it. +1 for my inline topbar brake levers I added back onto the Breed while getting ready for this race. it was like riding my mountain bike from the late 90’s. 

So the run up actually turned out to be a fun section for spectators as it’s brutality towards us racers. Since I have been running as my main workout, doing the big hill wasn’t so bad. I actually caught and passed people here and on the way down. +1 for being a mountain biker and living so long in Colorado practicing riding down crazy steep stuff in Winter Park. 

On one lap some crazy people were yelling and said I earned a Mohawk while I was passing someone after the run up. I thought that was really funny and figured what the heck I’m gonna take ‘em up on that after the race.  It turns out it was the peeps in the Jens Voigts Army (JVA). Twitter-bike-verse is so small! I forgot about their tweet about the free mohawks and hat. 

Me and my new haircut thanks to JVA.

The next bit and rest of the course was flat-ish and speedy until the off-camber section into the velodrome. I crashed on this section in practice as it was wet grass. During the race I just took advantage of my run training and just ran it until the last lap where I was too tired to get off the bike. 

The velodrome section out to the stair section was awesome fun as that was where most spectators were and where my family was in the stands. There is nothing like riding in there and jumping barriers in front of them. It was a blast. Need more cowbell.

My practicing of barrier jumping really really paid off well until the end when I just didn’t care for technique or passing people. Just the finish mattered. 

Speaking of the finish. By the third lap I was done. Like a ham in the oven I was cooked. I will have to work on endurance training or something for the next race. I believe if I had more gas in the tank I could have done a lot more damage as I noticed a lot of riders ahead if me were in the same situation. The final lap was all about getting into the velodrome to finish.

I know I accomplished my goals as there were people behind me and I wasn’t pulled due to riders finishing before me.  I have no idea where I ended up in the pack, probably the bottom 1/3 of the 200 as I gave up some positions in the final lap.

Here’s to looking forward to Hillboro in a couple weeks.

Jeremy

Some random notes:

SSCX bikes rock! I love not shifting or derailleur failures. One gear that’s it.  I was able to pass people having shifting issues a couple times which was a bonus.

Starting dead last is fun if you pass people during the race.

There were a lot of cool bikes there.

• The new Moots psychlo-x with discs is SEXY
• The new Foundry CX bike by QBP is subdued but really nice. Love the all black.

I need to eat or something during the 2nd and 3rd lap to maintain without bonking.

My cycling kit smells like cow poo.

Here’s to hoping this rain continues all night and the race at Alpenrose is sloppy sloppy sloppy.

Bring it. Hup.