Ruckus Racing // Shawnzyoo: Cross Crusade 2 (Villebois/Dammasch State Hospital)

EDIT: There were around 1300 riders at todays race. Also cyclocross out here is completely not predictable.

When you look up the race on google earth you see two different tags for the area.

1) Haunted abandoned insane asylum

2) Cross Crusade Race 2

At first you think that is silly, why would there be a cyclocross race at a mental institution.   Then you realize wait....it makes perfect sense. Sadly all of the buildings are torn down and the race was just on the grounds of the institution which is under heavy construction.

We arrived very early (8 am) at the grounds to get Andrew off for his first cyclocross race.   He raced very well and got third place in the Beginner Category.    While I didn't race until 12:40 this gave me a lot of time to preride the course.   Which is usually something I neglect.   I got a total of 3 laps in before my race, I found all the good lines (this all proved to be in vain later) and routes.

The course wasn't much of a cyclocross race as much as it was a short track mountain bike course.   It was all crazy rutty, hard pack, off camber, large really loose gravel, hell of a course.   As each race went on, there were a growing number of flat tires and trips to the first aid tent.

I got a mediocre warm-up in before the race, mainly because I was trying to get a good line at the start. I got lined up around 4 or 5 row which is pretty decent considering it is an absolute cluster-fuck of a 120 riders. This was a much better start already than last week.

We were off fast and I quickly moved up to top 20 on the first lap and was feeling great. There was a lot of hitting and sliding on every turn. I m not sure if I got taken down or just slid out. But I hit the ground hard. I jumped back up and got on my bike.   My right shifter was twisted in, not a big deal I can fix it later.   (later I found out that I was actually fairly bloody from my arm, hip, and leg).   Whenever I crash pretty hard it tends to make me slighly sheepish for the rest of the course.

With my fall and new sheepish attitude I dropped to around 30th and finished the lap.   Now this course was intense, I was running my tires soft and cushy for traction and it was just way too bouncy with large rocks to wreck your life.

On my 3rd lap my rear tire started feeling weird, I looked down and it looked really low on air. I thought I had a slow leak or something and it was causing the weirdness. Luckily I was right by the pit, so I pulled in and jumped off to check my tire.   It felt fine so I was back off.   Very shortly there after (just passed the pit) my tire rolled off the side of my rim. I just thought to myself damn it.   I am fairly new to tubular wheels and wasn't entirely sure on what to do. So I just pushed it back on and tried to ride it. It was sort of rideable but it felt really weird and considering it was such a bumpy/rocky course I didn't want to damage my carbon fiber rims.

So I decided to run for awhile and run I did. I ended up running about 1 mile back to the other side of the pit and ended up getting passed by a lot of riders. I changed wheels and just finished the race, in a leisurely fashion. Too much had happened already and I wasn't going to tempt any more.   Overall I finished in 81st place which isn't too shabby considering what I went through.   Also I escaped with only three areas of gravel rash, which is good considering one guy finished with his teeth sliced through his lips. There is always next week.   I would like to thank my great support crew today: Jen, Andrew, Zach, Vivian, Lindsay, Jon, Preston, Tarah, and Mandy.

Also this weekend is the Oregon Handmade Bike Show, all the local builders took a special lap with all their bikes. BLING