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Utah Cyclocross #2 |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Dave Leikam
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Friday, 06 October 2006 |
Utah Cyclocross Series Race #2
Fort Buenaventura State Park
Ogden, Utah
 | | The start line |
Some days you just don’t feel like racing. Just the other day I was all charged up for the race and Saturday not so much. The weather has been shite since Thursday with steady rain and some serious downpours on occasion. At least it’s warmish with temps in the 50’s at start time. The rain hit Ogden especially hard and the river was running high and muddy.
The course was saturated leaving puddles hidden in the grassy areas and unavoidable in the dirt road sections. Perfect. After a few warm up laps I felt more like racing and the heaviness drained from my legs.
 | | Run-up |
Again there were no call-ups so I got a spot on the front. I figured I would have no trouble with the hole shot but man, was I wrong. I got whooped going into the first turn but I caught up and stayed close. About halfway through lap one I took the lead and worked to steadily gap the field. I mean I tried to gap the field but they weren’t havin’ it.
 | | Standing water |
On about lap three, a young sportsman (14yrs old) caught up to, and passed me. I stayed on his wheel and talked him into working with me. We covered the next two laps or so working together until we began lapping the field with the B women and juniors clogging the run-up and otherwise slowing things a bit.
 | | Me and the young sportsman |
At this point we got caught by RacerX who had passed me late in the race last week. As he tried to get around me, I powered up to the point where I thought I was going to yak. The acceleration dropped the young ‘un and put me at the limit for a while, but the race was on.
 | | Barrier work |
With two laps to go I was just behind RacerX, or Dave as his mom calls him, and I was barely hanging on. I was able to stay close and made no stupid mistakes, as is my usual custom, going into the final lap. I owe a lot of my success to the Panaracer Cinder X tires I mounted up last week. They held on in the turns where other people were dumping it.
 | | Full gas |
RacerX, or Dave, likes to run for a bit after the barriers, where I prefer to get pedaling again. This was the deciding factor, because as RX, or we’ll call him D, was having trouble getting into his pedals following the run through the mud, I made what may have been my best ever remount and got right in the pedals to hammer past him going through the start/finish area.
 | | Some mud |
I sensed that RX, or D, was getting tired so I tried to up the pace just a bit. Success!! I got the gap I had been trying for all morning with a half lap to go and just rode smart to the finish. I got my first cyclocross win-no crashing or vomiting. What could be better than that? I treated my pit crew (a.k.a. my children) to lunch at a local sports bar (family friendly) to top it off. Too bad pit boss Mama T was in Mexico with the girls, she missed all the fun. Sun and drink on the beach is no match for a muddy sloppy ‘cross race.
It was a great day to race. Check out the results at utahcyclocross.com
Dave
Photos by: Christian Leikam
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; "The start line")
; "Run-up")
; "Standing water")
; "Me and the young sportsman")
; "Barrier work")
; "Full gas")
; "Some mud")
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