Awesome day!!
There was 3-4" fresh pow on the ground from the previous day, temps at race time would be 20*F with a solid breeze coming off the lake. The course design was perfect for the conditions, except could have been wider, but that's not what I'm referring to.
I arrived in plenty of time to get ready. Very cold out. Did my basic routine, hit reg and got my number but basically went back to the truck. I was parked on the bridge and with the height of my 4-Runner I was able to sit in the truck and see 1/3rd of the course.
Gear:
Lower: Barrier shoe covers, Craft thermal tights, standard bib on top of that, thick wool socks.
Upper: sleeveless baselayer, thermal arm warmers, long sleeve base layer, standard jersey, skull cap, Pearl Izumi ear covers/headband.
This would be my 2nd Cat3 CX race and Kevins 1st Cat 3 race. The reports from everyone already raced said it was pretty slow, from the looks of it that didn't surprise me. I have ridden in a lot thicker snow than this so I wasn't nervous, in fact, I was pretty stoked for the conditions!
They do the Cat 3 call-ups, which is a little longer than normal since CCC decided to use crossresults.com points to highlight some of the downstate crossers. Staging was kind of a mess, I think we were the biggest field of the day thus far and it got a little screwy. Kevin and I were now staged and the head official's instructions (Nikki) were finished and we got the final word, "the whistle will be anytime from now and 30 seconds. I looked at Kevin and then looked behind us....we were DEAD LAST!! Not one single rider behind Kevin and I. We were literally sitting 80+ of 83 starters!! Immediately I know what has to happen. Grab as many spots as possible before that first turn. Well I hadn't looked at the start run into the 1st turn and soon enough I realized it was all snow!!
One line down the middle and I knew that's not the line that was going to do me any good. I passed a good number before the turn and left Kevin. I've no idea what happened to him, I thought he was with me, he knows to grab my wheel at the gun. Now its just settle in get comfortable, stay upright as much as possible, and get past as many as possible. This race was a BLAST!
It was the typical back forth with a handful of guys the rest of the race, pass a few, drop em, have one pass me here or there. There were a lot of ice spots where the course turned onto the paved/iced path, guys would just randomly hit the deck (myself included) I went down twice under the bridge turn up the run-up/ride-up. I rode it 2x's and busted it 2x's and busted it basically because I thought I could cheat the ice a tad and turn just smidge early to get an advantage for the short burst up the small hill. Didn't work either time, doh! On one pass down the first long pavement straight into the dirt which had a muddy double dip, I knew I wasnt going to get by the Wheelfast rider in time so I backed off to give myself a little room since I knew guys were not taking good lines and not taking the little mud section with enough speed. I wanted room to counter any possible errors by homeboy in front of me. Good thing. He cart wheeled over the bars on the second dip, I called out that I was coming so he wouldn't get up in my line....I hit the mud at close to 20mph, fast enough that I had mud on my glasses by the end. So fun!!
We ended up with 5 laps. Finally, on the 2nd half of lap 4 Kevin hollers from behind me that he is on my wheel. So I lead him through the next technical sandy up & down section and tell him I'd let him by me on the next straight, which I did, but ONLY him! I let him roll on, I was at a spot where I had to back off just a bit.
At the start of the bell lap I re-assesed my race position and realized that I probably wasn't going to catch the group way up in front of me so I made sure not to let the guys behind me catch me. Just maintained focus to stay upright keeping tabs behind me. I rode the run-up under the bridge on the last lap and blitzed it in to the finish from there.
Probably the funnest cross race I have ever done in my short cross career thus far. Finished 58/83, picked off 25 guys from dead last on the line. Kevin finished 54/83 so he managed to pick off 29 guys.
Cross season is done. I made it to Cat 3 and showed I belong. I will be back next year with solid cross vigor!! Cheers to 2010 cross season and the Chicago Cross Cup!!
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