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Encore Cycling Cross Race |
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Team Bikeman -
Race Reports
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Written by Matt Hersey
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Saturday, 02 December 2006 |
Encore Cycling Cyclocross Race
Urban Cyclocross Series Finals
Irvine, CA
I did a great cross race on Sunday. Something comparable to what you might find in New England - emphasis on turning and braking, and short sections that require you to decide if you will walk or ride. I actually spent a few months in Irvine last summer, but I never saw this part of town. The venue was wedged between a large shopping mall, the Verizon Ampitheatre (where big concerts play), and some kind of waterpark for kids. I guess that area had been notorious for mountain lion sightings in the past. It was called Lion’s pride road or something.
The weather, of course, was warm and day. 80 degrees. Lather on the sunscreen.
My Salsa cross bike was, and still is, in a sorry state. Mostly it’s the wheels and tires. It’s that whole commitment and making tough decisions thing. Tubulars or clinchers? 135 rear spacing or the 130? Should I get the new Salsa cross bike or keep my old one? I can’t decide. So I’m running a clincher in the back and a tubular up front. The tubular has a slow leak in it and the glue job is iffy. The clincher tire is on a 10 year old wheel that I’ve been trying to give away. Somehow it works. Wheels in the pit? Heck no. Floor pump in the pit, and no neutral support in sight.
So they bring us down to the end of a big, dry soccer field for the start. There are 18 or 20 of us in the masters 35+. All the locals try to scare me with more talk of mountain lions. The gun goes off and there I am - towards the front. We do a couple of tight, slow turns around trees and roots and hit the pavement. Then it is a lot of open and long power sections back and forth across the soccer field. My lungs and throat are absolutely desiccated. I have to swallow every 30 seconds just to give them moisture. We exit the field and spend the other half of the lap in a much better place - the kids waterpark! As we roll off the field, we come into a little gully. There is an S turn that strategically robs us of all momentum and puts us at the bottom of a 6 foot tall ride/run up. I rode it every lap, but just barely made it over the top. From there, we skirted around a couple of small ponds, ducked under low trees, rode across small bridges, and ran a 30 foot long section of loose sand. From there, it was back onto the soccer field for a triple barrier next to the announcer’s booth. Overall, really fun with a good roller-coaster feel.
I got 5th place. There were 4 that got off the front, that I really never saw. Then there were 2 other guys that I rode with. They were strong on the field, but my cross skills gave me an advantage on the mounts/dismounts.
After the race, I suffered more lung pain than ever before. I tried to walk it off and drink water, but it just felt like there was a big hairball in there. Someone said that there might be a lot of ash in the air due to a fire a few hours north. I’m sure I inhaled lots of dust too.
As always, thanks to our team sponsors: Salsa Cycles, Lazer helmets, and Slick Willy Lube.
Good luck to all Bikeman team members racing at the upcoming National Championship race in RI.
Matt
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