With the road season over it was time to mount my new steed and embark on another discipline of cycling. Over the summer I plopped down some cash to get myself a cyclocross bike. A cyclocross bike is more or less a road bike modified to handle riding off road, including features like knobby tires, different gearing ratios, and either disc or cantilever brakes. Mine's a Fuji Cross 1.3 and I dubbed her Crossmaster General.
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| Crossmaster General on her maiden voyage. |
Ithaca Grand Prix of Cyclocross - September 7
The first cross race of the season was finally upon us. The field was quite large with 50+ riders between the old and young guys divisions, so they ended up doing call ups based on who registered first. I registered fairly late, but was able to snag a spot that wasn't too far back in the field. The whistle blew and we were underway. Being the first race of the year, I got to see some pretty spectacular crashes in the first few laps. Highlights were a guy in the front failing to bunny hop some small barriers and another going full endo into the sand pit. The leaders quickly left me in the dust and my race became a fight against the riders coming up from behind (and survival.) The race ended in a cheeky little sprint for 15th, which I ended up winning. I finished in the top 1/2 of the field in my first cross race, so I was somewhat satisfied.
Waterford Hills Cyclocross - Day One - September 21
Back to my summer stomping grounds. This weekend of cross racing was held in the same venue as the Wednesday night race series that I frequented in the summer. It made for a fun course, but day one of the weekend ended with some disappointment. For whatever reason I was just not feeling it this day and matters were made worse by my back randomly getting tight during the race (a problem that hadn't happened before and hasn't happened since). It wasn't all bad though as I managed to snag my first ever beer handup that propelled me through my last few laps. I ended up finishing 13th of 25 racers. It was also nice to see Danny take home his first of many crushing victories.
Waterford Hills Cyclocross - Day Two - September 22
A new day brought a new race. They flipped the course around from the first day and changed a few little sections to add a little new flavor. These changes, along with the course getting more smoothed out by riders, made for a much faster race than the previous day. This suited me a lot better, and the results showed. After all was said and done I managed to grab my first top 10 finish of the year as I crossed the line 8th of 28.
Lower Huron Cyclocross - October 6
The first cross race of the season was finally upon us. The field was quite large with 50+ riders between the old and young guys divisions, so they ended up doing call ups based on who registered first. I registered fairly late, but was able to snag a spot that wasn't too far back in the field. The whistle blew and we were underway. Being the first race of the year, I got to see some pretty spectacular crashes in the first few laps. Highlights were a guy in the front failing to bunny hop some small barriers and another going full endo into the sand pit. The leaders quickly left me in the dust and my race became a fight against the riders coming up from behind (and survival.) The race ended in a cheeky little sprint for 15th, which I ended up winning. I finished in the top 1/2 of the field in my first cross race, so I was somewhat satisfied.
Waterford Hills Cyclocross - Day One - September 21
Back to my summer stomping grounds. This weekend of cross racing was held in the same venue as the Wednesday night race series that I frequented in the summer. It made for a fun course, but day one of the weekend ended with some disappointment. For whatever reason I was just not feeling it this day and matters were made worse by my back randomly getting tight during the race (a problem that hadn't happened before and hasn't happened since). It wasn't all bad though as I managed to snag my first ever beer handup that propelled me through my last few laps. I ended up finishing 13th of 25 racers. It was also nice to see Danny take home his first of many crushing victories.
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| Mounting a bike at speed is an interesting task Photo by Zack Benet |
A new day brought a new race. They flipped the course around from the first day and changed a few little sections to add a little new flavor. These changes, along with the course getting more smoothed out by riders, made for a much faster race than the previous day. This suited me a lot better, and the results showed. After all was said and done I managed to grab my first top 10 finish of the year as I crossed the line 8th of 28.
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| Barriers. #Cyclocross Photo by Zack Benet |
After a top 10 at Waterford Day 2 I was feeling pretty good going into the race at Lower Huron Metropark. Rain was in the forecast and the course was pretty slick, which of course made it that much more fun. I made an effort to get a good place on the start line and really put a lot into getting to the first corner in a good position. I managed to hit the first corner in the top 3 and stay there for much of the first lap. The leaders opened up a little gap on the 2nd lap, but I was still top 10 and feeling good. That was, until I crashed when my tires slid out in a corner. I didn't have time to brace myself (which was probably good for my wrists and collarbone) so I plopped right down onto the ground. In the process of falling I managed to hit my shin on my top tube pretty hard. I got back up and into the race after straightening my shifters, but I had a sharp pain in my shin every pedal stroke and eventually decided to call it a day after about another 1/3 of a lap. Everything ended up being fine, but alas I had my first DNF of the CX season.
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| The start line at Lower Huron. This would be the happiest I was all day. Photo by Harvey Elliott |
Lansing CX Fest - October 12
The Lansing CX Fest would be my only departure from the Tailwinds Racing series during the fall. I was home visiting my parents for the weekend and Lansing was just a quick drive away, so I figured I'd get some racing in. The course was laid out on an old abandoned golf course, which was kind of neat. However, the star feature of the course was a very nasty run up that took us right up the side of a sledding hill. This thing would be the bane of my existence every single lap. I was excited for the race and ended up taking the holeshot. This was my biggest mistake of the day. I went out way too hard and ended up running out of steam just 1 lap into what would be a 4 lap race. After the first lap I was in survival mode and hoping to get passed by as few riders as possible. The field here was small, but really strong as most of the top guys came out to race. I ended up finishing 8th of 12, which was somewhat disappointing, but given the top heavy nature of the field I wasn't too upset.
Mad Anthony - October 19
Probably the most unique race on the schedule was Mad Anthony held at historic Fort Wayne in Detroit. The race takes part inside an old fort and included a tunnel and plenty of steep run ups and descents. Just an overall really cool setting for a race. And it was rainy/muddy, which made it even better. This ended up being a pretty solid race for me. The field was pretty big with 40 guys battling it out. I managed to get myself right to the front of the race on the first lap by running rather than trying to ride the steepest hill on the course. From here it was a battle of going fast, yet staying upright. When it was all said and done I managed to pull away from the pack I was with on the last lap and cross the line in a respectable 10th place.
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| On the start line at Mad Anthony Photo by Bob Bruce |
Veterans Memorial Park Cyclocross - November 10
A race right in Ann Arbor! Sleeping in! Free bratwursts, Zingerman's, and beer! Beer handups that I was too far in the red to take! This race had it all. As I mentioned, this race took place just a few miles from my apartment at one of Ann Arbor's parks. The course here featured a couple of sizeable climbs, some technical bits, as well as some power sections. The climby bits really hurt, but I was able to put my mountain bike skills to use in the technical sections to make up for lost time. This ended up being a very solid finish as I crossed the line in 6th of 29 racers.
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| One of Veteran's Park's turns. Photo by Patrick Barron |
Next up on the schedule was a weekend of racing at Lake Ori.....no, Bloomer Park. The weekend was originally supposed to take place at Lake Orion High School, but a scheduling conflict with a football game left the Tailwinds crew scrambling. They threw together an awesome course in super limited notice at Bloomer Park and everything was good to go. Its too bad they couldn't fix the weather too as the race ended up being super cold. It wasn't that bad once you got racing, but standing around watching the rest of the races made for a chilly day. The course suited me well as it had some extensive single track sections. I do more cx bike singletrack riding than your average bear, so I was really glad to see that. However, there was also a climb up a sledding hill that killed me every lap. The course also got really muddy in spots due to some snow and thawing ground. I ended up grabbing my second consecutive 6th place finish, this time out of 20 racers.
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| One of the many muddy turns at Bloomer Photo by Harvey Elliott |
Bloomer Park Cyclocross - Day 2 - November 24
We were back at it for day 2 at Bloomer. The Tailwinds crew changed up the course a bit by adding in some more switchback turns and such. Unfortunately that darn sledding hill was still on the course, but fortunately on this day the ground was much more frozen which actually led to some more traction. The frozen ground made for some faster racing. For the first time all year I still had the leader in my sights going into the last lap. I couldn't catch him, but I did manage to hang with a group that was fighting for 4th. I came out of the last turn and onto the pavement in 6th, but I was able to put the roadie sprinter in me to use to come around both of the guys ahead of me before the line. For the first time all year I was standing on the podium (well technically next to it since I got 4th) and even got a little medal for my efforts. It was great to finally break through onto the podium, and even better to be doing it in the last race before the state championships.
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| I survived the corner, but the guy in front of me wasn't so lucky. Photo by Harvey Elliott |
Well, it all came down to this: the State Championships. Jerseys were on the line as everyone made their way out to Addison Oaks to get their race on. This would be another course that would suit me pretty well as it was really flat. I didn't really have much hope that I'd be winning a state championship, but on the start line the official announced that they'd also be crowning a champion of the 19-29 age group. A quick survey of the riders that usually beat me found that they were all over 30. There were a few young guns like me in the field, but my chances of taking home a state champs jersey went from nearly 0 to quite plausible. I wasn't going to settle for just beating the under 30 crowd though as there was still a race against my usual foes to be had. As the race started we went out quite hard. I grabbed 2nd wheel going into the first corner and held on for dear life through the first lap. Eventually my legs and lungs started putting up a fight and the leaders had a few seconds on me midway through the second lap, but I still had them within reach. Slowly they pulled away from me, but the race wasn't over since I still had to stay in front of anyone in my age group. I finally crossed the finish line quite sure that I was the top 19-29 rider, but I couldn't be sure until they made the announcement. The time finally came and sure enough I had done it! It was a good day for the University of Michigan crew as my teammates Danny and Phil also grabbed champs jerseys in their races.
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| Frozen lake in the background; it was cold Photo by Bob Bruce |
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| State Champ! Photo courtesy of Tailwind Racing |
All in all 2013 was all I could have hoped for and more on the bike. It had its ups and downs, but I thoroughly enjoyed all of it. Definitely looking forward to getting back out there and pinning a number on again. The countdown has begun to the first race of the year at Lindsey Wilson!
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| A season of numbers and medals (plus a few old mtb ones, but shhhh) |
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