Crossin…

Day 1 of the Cross series was today in Ottawa.  Under overcast skiies the weather was almost perfect for cross.  The only ingredient missing was snow and rain!  Something I didn’t  miss.

After yesterdays hard workout, 40K worth of time trials + 12K tempo run, the legs felt stiff but ok.  I woke up to give Amanda her Birthday present then we both rolled over to the race site with our bikes.

About 35-50 souls showed up ready to roll in Brittania Park located in the West end of Ottawa.  The race course looked like it had some wear as our group (Elites + Master As) went after the others.  It occured to me that I haven’t raced in cycling in over two years.  I wonder if my triathlon background could  help me?

From the gun it was pedal to the medal.  My only goal was to not get hurt (something hard for me to do!).  I had an ok start and was mid pack as we went around the first bend. 

For those that don’t know how a cyclocross race works I’ll try to explain it.  Races usually consist of 1 hour with the person doing the most amount of laps in that time the winner.  A cyclocross course is typically short, only 1-2K in length.  The terrain is a mixture of grass, woods, pavement and even a swimming pool as we had to drive on today!  In the course there are obstacles put in the way so the riders have to jump over them.  This means getting off  your bike, jumping or running depending on how long the obstacles are and then remounting.  This is by far the hardest step!

Cross is a lot of fun but it’s like a 10K race that lasts for 60 minutes (no offence to the people that run 10K in 60minutes!).  People who typically time trial well are good crossers.  Big gear and just push.

Back to the race.  So our course was a little over 2K with lots of switchbacks and couple steap parts.  There were 5 obstacles, 3 singles the hardest coming at the bottom of hill so you had to run up it and 1 double where you had to jump over two barriers. 

For the first 2 laps I was conservative, content on not hurting myself (by crashing!).  Then I started to move up catch packs of riders.  At one point I had gained 10 positions until I biked into or over a deep hole hearing a huge "crack".  I pulled over to see if I had broken my steer tube and checked my tires.  As I did this my hard work evapourated as I lost ground.  No harm done so I got back to buisness.

From then on I had a couple minni wipe outs and my chain popped off.  All things which I contribute to my lack of mountain bike/cross skills.  I finished and showed Amanda a war wound on my knee, which I’m icing this as I type! 

There aren’t any awards after the race, just at the end of the series.  Each week till the end of November there will be a 60 minute race on Sunday.  The whole package was $50!  It’s a great deal if you like to cross.  Most of the races are around the city of Ottawa with one just outside and one more in Kingston.  All the proceeds go to the local Bike Organization here.

Anywho I’m off to watch the season primere of Simpsons and Family Guy!

Happy (Healing!) Trainin!

Cliff