Six Shooter (Austin) Day 1
Posted: Sat Oct 04, 2014 3:14 pm
Cyclocross season finally started in Texas. We had a very pleasant overnight low in the 50's, but the high today around 80. Not exactly cross weather, and tomorrow is going to be about 5 degrees hotter. The 40+ was the first race of the day at 11AM, so I was able to warm up on course. It was a long-ish lap with lots of straights and power required. Right in my wheelhouse! Not. Two sets of double barriers, one on a fast section and one after a long power sapping gradual uphill. They also included a sand volleyball court with 180 so you got to go through both sides. And there was a little MTB section with a 15 foot rise after an off-camber hard turn, so you came into it with virtually no speed. Many guys ran it, but it was totally rideable. Other than those features, there were a dozen or so turns that required some skill and lots of turns that were full gas, no skill required. The course was bone dry and hard as stone, with a mixture of Bermuda grass and weed. A few random pricky pear cactus just outside the tape. Awesome.
They combined the 40+, 50+ and 60+ for the start and called up by order of registration. There were a bunch of fast looking guys there in skin suits, carbon bikes, and shaved tan legs. My guess is that most of them were roadies. I somehow was called up to the front row, out of about 100 guys total on the line. I had an awesome start, clipping in right away, sprinting into 4th, and then into 3rd. I held this position for more than half of the first lap…and that’s where the highlights end. Someone pulled up my skirt and exposed me for the fraud that I am, as I started to slide backwards. I crossed the line after lap one in 5th, and proceeded to give up 3-4 places per lap for the next 4 laps. When I came through on the 2nd lap, I was praying for a 3 on the lap cards…but I was denied. 4 to go. I looked over my should to take stock of all the guys who would be passing me in the near future. It didn’t look good for me.
Actually, there were a few other highlights. I was over the barriers faster than anyone else around me on any lap. I went into the fast barriers on some guy’s wheel on lap 2 or 3, and came out the other side with a bike length on him. Basically, any place that required skilz, I could stretch my gap, only to see it close down again and be passed on the next straight. I guess that’s what a long summer of non-cycling priorities gets me.
Around the end of lap 2, I realized that I had caked saliva all over and I had cotton-mouth worse than anything I ever experienced in high school. Kids were offering Oreo hand-ups by the barriers, but I visualized it turning into a cement-like mixture in my mouth preventing me from breathing. I was so hot and so thirsty, which compounded the suffering from my lack of fitness and made for a total sufferfest.
With 1-1/2 to go, I got into some lap traffic and I was finally passed by someone that I could hang with. So my motivation went up a bit. I stuck to his wheel for half a lap and entertained the idea that he’d pull me up to the next guy and we’d have a go of it. Silly rabbit... By the time we took the bell, he had gapped me and I was back to my suffering by myself. From that point until the finish, I held my place and felt a bit better…like I had finally recovered from the ridiculously fast start that I had.
Carmen and Ruby had come with me, so we bailed as soon as I had cooled down and loaded up. I figure I placed somewhere around 20th overall, with no idea how many were actually 40+ but likely most of them. Hopefully they change the course a bit for tomorrow. Throwing in a dozen of difficult turns would be okay by me. A 9AM start on Day 2 sounds a bit better from a heat perspective. I may carry a bottle tomorrow.
They combined the 40+, 50+ and 60+ for the start and called up by order of registration. There were a bunch of fast looking guys there in skin suits, carbon bikes, and shaved tan legs. My guess is that most of them were roadies. I somehow was called up to the front row, out of about 100 guys total on the line. I had an awesome start, clipping in right away, sprinting into 4th, and then into 3rd. I held this position for more than half of the first lap…and that’s where the highlights end. Someone pulled up my skirt and exposed me for the fraud that I am, as I started to slide backwards. I crossed the line after lap one in 5th, and proceeded to give up 3-4 places per lap for the next 4 laps. When I came through on the 2nd lap, I was praying for a 3 on the lap cards…but I was denied. 4 to go. I looked over my should to take stock of all the guys who would be passing me in the near future. It didn’t look good for me.
Actually, there were a few other highlights. I was over the barriers faster than anyone else around me on any lap. I went into the fast barriers on some guy’s wheel on lap 2 or 3, and came out the other side with a bike length on him. Basically, any place that required skilz, I could stretch my gap, only to see it close down again and be passed on the next straight. I guess that’s what a long summer of non-cycling priorities gets me.
Around the end of lap 2, I realized that I had caked saliva all over and I had cotton-mouth worse than anything I ever experienced in high school. Kids were offering Oreo hand-ups by the barriers, but I visualized it turning into a cement-like mixture in my mouth preventing me from breathing. I was so hot and so thirsty, which compounded the suffering from my lack of fitness and made for a total sufferfest.
With 1-1/2 to go, I got into some lap traffic and I was finally passed by someone that I could hang with. So my motivation went up a bit. I stuck to his wheel for half a lap and entertained the idea that he’d pull me up to the next guy and we’d have a go of it. Silly rabbit... By the time we took the bell, he had gapped me and I was back to my suffering by myself. From that point until the finish, I held my place and felt a bit better…like I had finally recovered from the ridiculously fast start that I had.
Carmen and Ruby had come with me, so we bailed as soon as I had cooled down and loaded up. I figure I placed somewhere around 20th overall, with no idea how many were actually 40+ but likely most of them. Hopefully they change the course a bit for tomorrow. Throwing in a dozen of difficult turns would be okay by me. A 9AM start on Day 2 sounds a bit better from a heat perspective. I may carry a bottle tomorrow.