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Seattle Cyclocross Series #3 |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Joel Liefke
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Saturday, 14 October 2006 |
Seattle Cyclocross Series - Race #3
Kelly Creek - Bonny Lake, WA
The weather forecast on Saturday called for light rain on Sunday and temperatures in the low/mid 50s…perfect cross weather. I woke up on Sunday morning bright and early to make the 45 minute trek from Bellevue to Bonny Lake and upon looking outside, saw that Mother Nature wasn’t in agreement w/the weather forecast…absolute downpour. Having been sick earlier in the week, I knew this was going to be a tough day, but on the bright side, the rain would slow down the fast roadie guys!
Upon arriving, I headed to the registration booth and to cheer on my friend racing the Master C’s, rain, rain, and more rain. After getting my lucky #91, I headed back to the truck to put on my new Bikeman skinsuit (which I love),and by the way fits like a glove, and in the rain, made me look like a 6’3 water soaked stuffed bratwurst! This configuration also made it very difficult to get the skinsuit on w/a number pinned to you and let me tell you, I’m sure people in the parking lot had a great laugh at me trying to get it on. Oh well, I’m sure they expect this type of behavior from me now, ever since my public flogging at Star Crossed.
The course was the most spectator friendly course in our series, as there was a plateau above the course where the crowd could watch the entire race. The first half of the course was a tight grouping of switchbacks across a field, so you were able to see people that were way ahead and way behind you pretty much through the whole first mile. The second half of the course was spread out after the barriers, with a small hill run-up and then back to the finish line through some sizeable gravel that took out many a rider.
I rolled up to the start line at 1030 near the back of the pack, since this was my first series race. The pack was roughly a 100 or so riders, so I had my work cut out for me on the first lap. At the gun, I actually got a pretty decent start and was feeling really good. At the first corner I worked my way up to about 60th and cruised their through the first part of the course, as there was a lot of traffic through the turns. On the second half of the course I opened it up and started picking off people up to about 50th place after the first lap.
On lap 2 I felt great and coming through the barriers I passed 4-5 more people, only time in cross it pays to have long legs, and continued to hammer through the rest of lap 2. When I got to the run-up I was chugging along, but got my front right bar in the rear spokes of the guy in front of me, so we had to do a pretty little song and dance to free each of us from potential catastrophe. Once I hit the top of the hill, my buddy from the Master’s race was cheering me with “Pony Tail Power” chants that brought back further memories of Starr Crossed, but its all good. Upon crossing the start/finish line on lap 2, I got the bell lap, which meant this was a really short race (roughly ½ hour only), so I had some work to do being in about 40th place. (In Seattle we never know how many laps we are going to do until the marshals can see how fast the group is progressing after the first lap, so it’s always a mystery at the start…we are told, make sure you watch the reader board!)
Final lap, again, felt great, but just couldn’t get the lungs going to pick off some of the people in front of me and actually lost a couple place to some stronger riders from the back (you all are mine next week J. All in all I ended up 45th, with many of the riders ~20 or so dropping out due to the rain or mechanicals in the slop….so not a great ride, but it was definitely fun. My fitness is coming back after those 8 weeks off after the STP due to tendonitis, so once my lungs catch up to my legs I’ll be a happy camper.
Next weekend is Donida Farms - SCC #4, great course and we actually race around a horse race track for part of the course….love the sand. Cheers!
Joel Liefke
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