Coasting is for sissies!

Chicago 'Cross Cup: Dekalb 10/4/09 4b

Race #37

So, on lap two I was picking off the last people I was going to get for the race while trying to hold off the guy from Dog Fish. As I was heading through a tight section with a few trees and tight turns right before the start/finish line, this kid yells out to me: “NO COASTING!” and then “COASING IS FOR SISSIES!” That was funnier than me grabbing the entirety of that guy’s “equipment set” along with the dollar dangling from his zipper.

So, I finished 9th and I really, really like this sport. But then again, the weather was awesomely perfect.

I’ve heard ‘cross is like a reverse crit, a time trial, and a circus. I think people have gotten it pretty close to right.

The course was great, really a lot of fun to ride. Some parts were quite narrow and I can understand why some would complain about a bad start position ending your race early. Also, I can understand about not being able to “safely” pass in enough places. However, I never really felt that—at all, actually. Except for the single track section passing was never a problem created by the course, only the rider.

The start was not as nutty as I thought it was going to be. I was thinking along the lines of a triathlon swim start. We line up, they start us off and we’re flying at the first turn. John is like way ahead of me by turn two, and I was thinking about going up there, but then waited...why? Probably because I don't care all that much about a result at this point.

By turn 3 things were getting strung out and the leaders we well in front of me. I was still simply following the people in front of me rather than trying to get ahead of them. By the time we hit the tight technical hill, and just a few jittery people had begun to annoy me. It was then that my competitive nature was rekindled and I began to actively get past people and try to get to the front. However, getting to the front was not going to happen. The leaders were in view until that tricky hill with 4 very off camber turns (I liked it!), then once they went through a single track section behind a baseball diamond, the gap became impassible and it was over for anyone not in the lead group.

The barriers: my first time over was very, very ugly. I forgot what I was supposed to do—unclip the right, no left, wait right? Finally, I swung my leg around, unclipped, carried, jumped…set bike down and got on the damn thing one way or another…I passed the my last three people there on the second lap and then it became an individual effort, and that I liked.

Cross is fun. It was a blast to zip through the park. But it really sucked to go over the second set of barriers—what the hell was with the nasty shit smell in those woods? Seriously, it was awful!

Thanks for driving out there John, and thanks Chip for helping me out with my chain before the start!