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Utah Cyclocross #8 |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Dave Leikam
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Friday, 01 December 2006 |
Utah Cyclocross Series Race #8
Fort Buenaventura State Park
Ogden, UT
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Well, I think that may have done it. I have been in the hunt for the overall points lead in the C category and as of last week, I was down by only two points. If I could just turn in a decent finish, I might get enough points to dump one of my lower scores to be in good position for the overall. Not to be.
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For those of you who may have read some of my earlier reports on this cross season, you may recall a race where I bent my derailleur hanger. I had the hanger straightened, and at that time I was warned that it may be a good idea to get it replaced soon. I didn’t. I was warming up for the race and the unthinkable happened. The hanger sheared in two.  | | click to enlarge |
Typical. I had many friends offer me their bikes and for that I am very grateful, but I didn’t feel right about disrupting their warm up for the next race, so I declined. What to do? I went over to the only mechanic that was set up at the pits to see if he could help. There were no hangers available, but he offered to rig my bike to run single speed. Hmmmmm……..what the hell. To get the proper chain alignment he had to set it up to run as a 46-14. A little tall for my first SS race but what choice did I have? Anyway, here’s how the race went.
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The course is basically flat with one short run up and one set of three barriers with lap times in the six minute range. The course was covered with about three inches of light powdery snow and the temps were right around 15 degrees at start time. I was called up to the front line position with the rest of the top ten. Right off the start, I got dumped as I tried to figure out how to ride single.  | | click to enlarge |
Early on, the course leaves the road and turns onto the grass area and into a slight downhill 180 degree left turn. Coming out of that turn was the hardest part of the course as it was slightly uphill and with no momentum it was all I could do to keep the wheels turning. I settled into about 14th position and held there for most of the race. It was interesting to me that while I was mashing this one gear, suffering, I was thinking how cool it would be to this all of the time. Looking back at it now, I think I will wait a while on committing to SS. I passed a couple of racers mid way through the race and nearly caught Dave Cole at the line, but the best I could do was 12th place. I will probably have to drop this score along with my DNF from the State Championship race which will put me down the line a bit in the points. There is still the series finale next week and this one is a double points race.
I think it’s time for my luck to change.
Check out the results at Utahcyclocross.com.
Thanks for reading.
Dave
Photos by: Tracee Leikam
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