Belated Race Report #1…
Starcross came, went, and I was much the worse for the wear.
Opening shot was fired, and I led through the start finish on the first semi-lap. Not sure if I got the “1st lap prime,” ’cause “1st lap” is a pretty vague description. If a subscription to Cyclocross Magazine starts showing up, I guess I won, eh?
Shortly after we passed the finish line, Doug Reid came by me on the track like a bullet. He went way up track, and opened up about a 10 second gap in, well, 10 seconds. I’ve seen waaay too many people hit the deck trying that move, and no way was I going to follow.
Big Mistake.
Reid was gone, and after a couple of laps, I realized there was no way I was going to catch him by myself. I sat up a bit and waited for the 2 person “chase group” to catch me, thinking we could work together on the long flat sections and bring him back.
Whoops.
As soon as I got caught, I realized that these guys weren’t going as fast as I hoped, and that they had been chasing full gas – and the wind was out of the sails as soon as they caught me. I was in 3rd wheel when I realized this, passed into 2nd immediately, and was getting set to attack and go after Doug when I had trouble clipping in with my new pedals and newly modified shoes. 3rd wheel went around me when I bobbled the clip, crashed immediately, and took me down hard.
I got up, and I was a mess.
My bars were turned almost completely sideways, my levers were facing each other, and as I was soon to realize, I was completely entangled in the course tape.
How did I realize this?
I remount the bike after god knows how many people have passed me, get 2 turns down course, and just as I’m thinking that I need to get off and check my brakes, one of the spectators yells “Hey Matt! You’re dragging half the course with you!!”
Sure enough, not only am I dragging about 20 meters of course tape with me, but I have also pulled about 1/2 dozen snow stakes out of the ground, and they’re following me like a school of baby geese. I look like a freaking wedding car, substitute stakes for cans. Somebody paint “going backwards” on my face with shaving cream, OK?
Bike change, chase (ouch, my knee is killing me,) lather, rinse, repeat.
Finish somewhere low in the top ten (too disgusted to actually check the results.) First time off the podium in the history of this race. Bummed.
Pitting for a teammate in the womens race later in the evening, I slip during a bike exchange and realize my knee got pretty messed up in the fall. Damnit.
Turns out I dislocated my knee.
Bummed x2.
You can probably guess how the next days race went…
Notes:
– Dugast Rhinos http://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo.net/durhtunew.html are the bomb mud/muck/slip and slide tire of all time. I was riding on rails the whole damn race, which made the fall all the more dissapointing.
– The “B” bike had the Hutchinson Bulldog clinchers http://cyclocrossworld.stores.yahoo.net/hubucxtureti.html on, and I’ll be honest; they weren’t the Dugasts, but they were pretty damn awesome, and they cost significantly less than 1/2 what the Rhinos do. If I can ever manage to get the tubeless setup dialed, these things might just wind up being the “E” ticket…
– Don’t ever modify your shoes the day of a race. ‘Nuff said, eh?
M
Crosssports's Weblog 
Cyclocross has, again, proven to be a distraction from the real sport at hand. By hand, I don’t mean what you do in your private moments. Let’s train for stage races, like the old days and leave this mess to the messy people that adore it.