Andrew and I left Portland around 7:30 am with a chilly, dampness in the air. It stayed with us until 1 in the afternoon. We got in a lap before the beginner race started. The course was a classic cyclocross course. About 6 ft wide fast grass, off camber turns, some wooded tree ruts, and then the uniqueness that is the Cross Crusades steps in. Most barrier sets around the country have two barriers in them. Portland has six barriers (called six packs). There is also a monster of a loose gravel uphill climb. Which was ridable for some, also a very popular spectator area.
With the increasing popularity of cyclocross (over 1300 riders once again), the officials decided to try something new with setting up the starting area. They devised a lottery system based off the last digit of yoru number. My number is 344. Number 4 was chosen last, this meant that I got to line up at the back of my field..........not awesome. But on the upside of being last means that you get to go home with a 6 pack of beer. There ended up being 102 riders in the category B race. I was tied for 102 place.
The race started and was a sprint fest. I was only able to move up 10 spots in the begining before it slowed down. This is where any ideas of winning or finishing well went out the shammy. There was absolutely no way to get through 3~4 riders on a 6ft wide track through the woods. I had to wait for the race to start stringing out.
I was very fatigued the entire race. My usual pop that I can kick out at points was gone. I was plodding through the course at what I thought was turtle's pace. I felt like racers were going by me constantly. Everytime I would come through the uphill I was dead tired. My body was never able to recover. It was extremely frusterating and I was very happy when I heard the bell signifying one more lap.
I assumed I got like 80th, but it turned out I actually got 45. Which is really surprising to me because I DO NOT remember passing 57 people at any point. I mean I know passed a few people. This actually lifted my spirits quite a bit. I know I could have done 100000 times better in this race. I m not sure what was holding me back besides starting in 102 place. One of these days I ll get a good start and drop the hammer or lay some pipe, insert whatever biking analogy you like.
EDIT: Lots of riders were being destroyed by the 6 pack. You could see with every barrier that their legs were not going as high. There was lots of epic summersaults/barrier smashing. Also there was a mountain biker in the C race that was determined to bunny hop them. Lap 1 he got over 2 barriers before endoing. Lap 2 he got over 3 barriers. On the last lap he made it over 5. Very very impressive none-the-less.
Disclaimer: I didn't take many photos today because the course was kind of hard to walk around and quite frankly I was tired.
Spectators viewing the 6 pack.
About to hit the 6 pack. Good form.
Hitting the first barrier.
This is actually a 3 ft kicker. I was waiting for one of the A riders to do something fun. I lost patience.
Loose dirt/gravel climb.
She finished 4th in the Women's A race and is also my CycloCrush, partially because she is an awesome rider and partially because she is on a really cute bike.
EDIT EDIT:: I keep forgetting to add stuff. A qucik background story. Last weekend at Wilsonsville a Team Beer member urinated outside and some stuffy old guy saw it and bitched on the forums about in a less than classy manner. About 3~4 people joined sides with the stuffy old guy. Team Beer in their infinite class rented out 3 special Honey Buckets (port o potties for you non-NW) and they had a concierge standing there all day with special amenities. Also posted on the doors of the Honey Buckets was a no user list of the stuffy old guys. Class. Quick interview here.
