I really enjoyed this race - sadly, it pushed my limits technically (though nearly everyone said it was a very non-technical course), but I had a great time. (Pictures here).

If I had been a little more gutsy at the start and gotten near the front, I think I could have been in contention for this one - I felt great, and there were some nice sections where riders could lay down a little power. I did line up in an okay spot, for the first time in a long time (second row start). The fast gravel start suited me perfectly, but I’m just not comfortable riding in close quarters yet.

What was really cool was that so many of my new team, Recycled Cycles Racing, were out racing. It’s great to be out with a team that really shows up to races. It ended up paying off for us, since we had 5 in the top 15. Nice.

The course started on a long gravel straightaway, through a set of barriers, and into a series of “S” turns along the length of the speedway. The grass was deep here, with very short pavement sections, which meant that I was able to make up a fair number of places here. Then there was a really steep ride up that I had to hit with a lot of momentum (hard for me to commit to), and a series of small turns.

Then, on the backside of the course, were two notable features. The first was a muddy, steep, downhill that was a full brakes, lean back, try not to fall sort of affair. I saw a few people go down here, which was sort of scary, since it looked like there was a drop-off at the bottom of the hill. After the downhill was a steep runup, with stairs available (which I always took, as the ground looked too muddy). I was able to make up a few seconds here each lap, but the big feature to me was about 400m of straight gravel after the run-up. I threw it into my smallest cog and flew through this section each time. Sometimes, I was able to put 10-15 seconds on people in just this section alone, oddly. Fun.

All in all, I just started too slow, but I consistently picked people off (I don’t think anyone passed me during the race). I got to ride with some Recycled people, and even in the short time I was on the course with them, I got to pick up some small skills tip for how to ride a cross race faster. Hopefully, I’ll develop some riding skills and come back strong next year.

Woolley Cross - this is a part of the Cascade Cross series.

Check out the SmugMug gallery for more pictures, but it was held at a really cool abandoned farm (a dairy?), which gave a great backdrop for a really fun race. The course was easily the most wide open ‘cross course I’ve ever done, as it was 10 feet (or more) wide nearly the whole length of the course, with few sharp turns. In other words, a course pretty much tailored for me. There was one turn of increasing radius, a couple of ride/run-ups (I ended up running all of them on most laps), and one set of barriers. On a wonderfully warm, sunny, mid-November day (good bye, State College), this turned into a pretty straightforward go-fast-through-gass-fest. Fun.

To top it off, the race started LeMans style, which means you run to your bikes to start. At most races, I start mid way through the pack, get nervous about all the riders near me, fall back a bit some more, then wallow in mediocrity until people start getting tired. I start making up places really quickly at this point, but in ‘cross, you have to race at the front to really have a short (really, most crit races are like this too).

In this one, however, I get to run for my starting place. Nice. I started riding too early through deep grass (instead of running my bike), so I only started 5th, but it was close enough to the front to let me ride my own race. I passed the first placed rider halfway through the first of 4 laps, and asked him how far ahead the leaders were. By the end of the first lap, I had opened up a 15-30 second lead. By the end of the second lap, I could no longer see any other riders behind me, so I focussed on not blowing up, rode a steady race, and finished rather strong-ish. Granted, it’s only a Men’s C race, but I’m looking forward to getting my 6 races in, getting my upgrade, and learning a lot getting spanked by the Men’s B/Cat 3’s.

All in all, this was the most fun I’ve had at a cross race so far - I like being able to go fast on grass. I usually don’t get a chance to use my fitness in cross races, since I’m too slow around corners to really put down much speed. But that day, I got to do a lot of hard riding, outdoors, in grass, on a fun bike through some mud. It’s all my favorite parts of ‘cross, and I’m looking forward to doing as much ‘cross racing in WA as I can.

This race was ridiculously muddy, and consequently (since I have no bike handling skills), really bad for me.