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My first shot at Cyclocross |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Troy Nye
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Wednesday, 31 October 2007 |
My first shot at Cyclocross
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Without question, I have the sweetest “non-cross” cross bike in the entire state of Utah, perhaps the country, or the world. Unable to muster up the courage to push the button on a “real” cross bike for 2007, sadly I am relegated to racing the series on my mountain bike. Pathetic, I know, but before you rush to judgment consider this-
A mountain bike nonetheless, it’s not exactly in typical “Mountain Bike” configuration. The following is a list of modifications that I made to my Salsa Mamasita to make it a very formidable cyclocross weapon:
· Off with the REBA, on with the Origin8 carbon rigid 29er fork
· Off with the 2.35 x 29 Panaracer Rampage tires, on with the 700c x 35 Panaracer Cindercross tires (still tubeless by the way… very nice!)
· Off with the 22t/32t/42t chainrings, on with a 36t middle ring and bash guard
· Off with the left side SRAM XO grip shifter and front derailleur, on with the N-Gear Jump Stop chain watcher
· Off with the SRAM 11-34 cassette, on with the SRAM 11-23 cassette
· Off with the wide MTB riser bar, on with a sawed-off flat bar
· Off with the worn out but much loved SIDI MTB shoes, on with the much meatier Lake MX230 shoes (complete with toe spikes)
Net result –
Was: a fairly svelte 26.0 lb 29er cross country racer
Is: a much more svelte 21.5 lb 700c cyclocross machine
Not bad.
Utah Cross #4
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My first ever cross race weekend was a doubleheader. Saturday was a mud fest 10 miles north of my home in Ogden UT. Wow, cyclocross is fun… who knew? Being a first timer and knowing that I am completely pathetic in the “off bike” sections, I lined up with better than 40 other racers in the “C” flight. Starting near the back, I worked my tail off make contact with the leaders. Trouble is, I completely blew my wad to catch them and had nothing left when it came time to overtake them. In fact I wound up losing a few position in the final lap to finish 5th of 37 finishers.
Utah Cross #5
The Sunday race was held at Wheeler Farm in Murray, UT, 30 miles south of my home. The weather, although bitter cold at 9:30 AM, was much drier and as the race progressed, was soon much warmer as well. I employed a much different strategy this time around. Rather than going out white hot, setting myself up nicely to implode later, I chose to pace myself a bit more. This worked out well as I found myself and one other guy (Mike), with 2 laps to go, duking it out about 30 seconds off the front of the group. Strategically, I was thrilled with how I rode this race. There was an off camber section 400 meters from the finish on which I knew I could outride Mike. Sitting on his wheel, I attacked and was first into this section only to find myself stuck behind lapped traffic. Mike came out of it right on my wheel and, kudos to him, was able come around me at the line. I ended up 2nd of around 25.
Troy |
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