Green Mountain Sports 'Cross

The cyclocross season is winding down. Last Sunday it was back to Golden for the final race in the Green Mountain Sports series. It was at the same location as my first race of the season where I decided to really take it easy. This time I wanted to go full gas.


The same snow that welcomed me back from Austin last week had been taking its time melting and I was excited to see the muddy parcours when we got to the parking area. One thing I've learned this season is that riding in mud is fun. (Cleaning your bike afterward, however, is not.) Not only is it fun, but I tend to do well muddy races as I seem to be able to maintain good power output longer than a lot of other people in my class.

I would have liked to have taken it pretty easy the day before racing, but that wasn't an option. I went on a ride with local pro Tom Danielson, and while we weren't burning up the road, riding 3 hours certainly wasn't going to leave me fresh the next day. (That's another story for another day.) Not to mention, the 5k I ran earlier in the week was still weighing heavy on my legs. Have I mentioned that I dislike running?

Knowing that my legs weren't going to be especially peppy, I took my warmup laps really light and easy. Just enough to get familiar with the course, but riding as easy as I could. Surprisingly, I got a front row call-up. Unexpected because there are usually (supposed to be?) only 8 lanes, but I wasn't complaining. I felt like I came off the line fairly slowly when the whistle blew. I even slowed initially to hit the start button on my cycling computer. Surprisingly, I was in front and took the hole shot. I promptly lost the lead when we hit the first barriers. My legs were already screaming and I suddenly remembered how little skills practice I had done lately.

The first lap was a little chaotic and I took a nice muddy spill. I was coming off a steep downhill into a corner and I slid out. Thankfully mud is soft. :) With my tired legs and lungs keeping me in check, I settled into damage control mode for a lap. My main goal being to recover a bit and hopefully not get passed. I was mostly successful, but a few guys went by.

In the middle of the race I started to feel better and started to work hard and making up time. I reeled in some people as we all faltered in the mud. Man that mud is tiring. It was thin enough to let you sink in, but thick enough to toss you around if you weren't careful. I must admit, it's super fun to be handling the bike instead of just riding it.

I hooked on to the back of two other riders for a little bit. They were battling it out, both candidates for the top of the overall standings. I knew they were both stronger than me on the day so I was more than happy to sit on the back and watch the show. Plus, it made me realize how much better bike handlers they were than me. There were a couple sections where they were easily putting in a few seconds into me.

Mercilessly, the race ran a little long. It's scheduled for 45 minutes, but that's always just an estimate. After a lap, the officials make a call on how many laps of pain you'll do, and then they have a board at the finish line that counts down laps. I had expected to do 3 laps, but we ended up doing 4 and racing for 50 minutes. Usually they err on the other side of 45 minutes, but I guess they thought we needed a little more work today. :)

I came to the line in 7th place, which I'm pretty happy with. With the state championships just a couple weeks away, I feel like I'm in a good position fitness wise. I'm looking forward to it (and hoping for a snowstorm followed by sunshine to make it a muddy paradise).