Team Mango

inaugural mango cyclocross race

(the following includes photos i took of the race after mine just to give a flavor of what the races are like).

this past sunday i entered my first ever cyclocross race. although i had never done any cyclocross riding, per se, it wasn’t too distant from the mountain bike racing i’ve done in the past. a few weeks ago, milkshake and i had gone out to a cyclocross race near auburn to see first hand what they were like (neither of us had ever seen such a race in person). we were both instantly intrigued.

the first time my schedule cleared up, i decided to give it a shot. sunday’s race (the 7th race in an 8-race series) was out at south seatac park, where i had done several mountain bike races, so i knew the terrain quite well.

i haven’t gone out and spent a couple grand on a new cyclocross bike (yet), so i rode my mountain bike — which is allowed at the races as long as one removes the bar ends from the handlebars. i was definitely in the minority, but for my race category, about a third of the riders were on mountain bikes (even less so for the more advanced categories).

i raced in the men’s master C 35+ category, which is essentially the beginner category. there were 34 riders in my category. the riders who had been competing in the previous races in the series (about 20 of them) staged at the start line in order of their current point standings. the rest of us were virgins and relinquished to the back of the pack from the get-go.

at the gun, we all sprinted uphill on a paved road, then a long straight-away for about a quarter mile before entering into the singletrack. i was about mid-pack at this point. there had been a lot of rain the past week. it was sunny but still very cold, and the trail was still quite moist, with a lot of standing water. just after the start of the singletrack was the first hill. it was covered in deep sand and we all dismounted and hoofed up the short rise. the trail twisted around pretty tamely, with the occasional slippery patch of mud on a turn.

later there were two long flat patches of deep sand. most of the guys on cyclocross bikes with their skinny tires dismounted and ran through the sand. however, with the fat tires on my mountain bike, i was able to power through the sand and make some good progress (saving time by not having to dismount and then remount). i got to wondering if this was some sort of cyclocross faux pas, as these obstacles are purposely set up to force the riders to dismount.

halfway through the lap was another hill, this time about 20 feet up. the pack was still pretty dense, so the key was to avoiding being smacked by the guy next you when he picked up his bike and slung it over his shoulder. up we went, then curved around to a long descent back down.

at this point on the first lap, a rider was in front of me was slowing down a bit. i decided to make my move and pass him, so i stood up on the pedals to power past him. unbeknownst to me was the fact that the first set of plank barriers was just ahead. i saw a guy dismount just ahead, saw the barriers, and slammed on the brakes just in time to dismount and hop over. (i wonder if anyone ever misses these planks completely and barrels right through them?).

more twisting around, another gradual but sandy climb on the back side of the course, and within ten minutes was back at the start/finish line and ready to go through all the obstacles again. the race was three laps, so i was going to be doing this for about 30 minutes. this is (or should have been) a sprint for the entire race, but i am used to 1-1/2 to 2 hour mountain bike races that are based more on endurance. so, at my weenie mountain biker pace, i found that i was almost well-rested by the end of the race.

i placed 22 out of 34, and since my expectations were quite low for this my first race, i was pleased with the results. in the end, it was quite a lot of fun, very muddy, and i’ll definitely do it again. i need to work on getting comfortable revving my heart rate up sooner and pushing myself harder for the shorter time period, but i’ve got until next season to do that.

Posted by jason at December 1, 2005 7:52 PM