Cyclocross race again!

Please don't mistake this blog for anything chronological - it certainly isn't. I'll rewind to 2 weekends ago back in the Netherlands for this one (2 days before the flight mentioned in the next entry).

I joined a friend for my first national cyclocross race in Stramproy (about 1 hour from my place) on Saturday - figured it would be a good time! Since I had no national points though I started ont he back row of about 25 guys who all looked pretty pumped up and ready to go - this was going to be a little tougher than the local series I'd been doing.

So while I'm listening to the announcer rattle on in Dutch about the race I start playing with my HRM to make sure it's set right. Unfortunatley I wasn't even in the right starting gear at this point either. Next thing I know I hear a whistle and everybody's GONE. I'm left standing there looking around wondering what the heck just happened! I looked behind me to see the juniors rushing forward to get their starting positions and I realized I'd better get outta the way! So off I go in dead last place - yehaw!

Luckily I'd at least ridden the course 2 times, so that was a vast improvement on my previous best (1/2 lap pre-ride). I knew there was nothing to hold back at this point, so I just got warmed up good and let'er rip. I thought it would be interesting to see what happens and what I could do. I started passing people, but in the open field sections it was pretty clear to me the leaders were already pretty far ahead - good luck catching them! But I tried as best I could and managed to pass a good chunck of the field.

About 40 minutes into the race I caught up to a rider who was going a good pace so I settled onto his wheel for a bit to catch my breath. Realizing I only have 20 minutes left though I quickly decided to pick up the pace - if he could follow me good for him, if not I'd go alone and try to bridge to the next rider. Sure enough he stuck on my wheel and shortly he passed me too - hammering all the way. I wasn't sure why he was going so hard, but I knew I'd stick with him. Over the running section we went, then around an off-camber turn into the finishing strecth when he dropped the hammer and started sprinting - but we still had a good 10 minutes left, right? WRONG again! (Jeeze - I think I'm going to have to make every mistake possible in cyclocross before I start being smart about it!).

Turns out the race had been dropped from 60 to 50 minutes, and this dude just outsprinted me for a spot - rats! Oh well - no big deal - I didn't know where I was, but I didn't think I was on the podium.....but it turns out I was pretty close. I'd lost track of how many people I'd passed (since they run a few races at a time you always get slower traffic and it's really hard to tell who's in your class and who isn't). I ended in 6th place, which I was pretty happy with considering my dead-last start!

Not a bad result, and I felt great the whole race - good signs! I've got a couple shots I'd put here, but I'm having troubles uploading them now (pop-up blocker is messing with it :o( Stay tuned!