2 posts tagged “nm”
Having
fully caught the 'Cross bug - I had to try it again this past weekend
in Albuquerque. The venue was sure to punish as it was almost entirely
on grass - and full of steep punchy climbs with sharp turns on/in them.
While I'm in the process of deciding on and building up a
cross-specific bike, I'm stuck with the big fat tires on my XC mountain
bike race-rig. It worked pretty well a few weekends ago out at Mesa del
Sol - on a fast, dirt/sand course with some moderate technical/loose
spots. I eeked out the win in a TIGHT sprint finish that lucky day -
with another mountain bike racer!
Holy Christ I was going to learn a lesson and pay the piper THIS day; this time the course was going to work me and my sluggish self...
Great turnout for our fast and furious B Race - including nationally ranked pro racer lady, Nina Baum - and a number of her Nob Hill Velo (a main sponsor of the series) hammers. I knew we'd be in trouble as these are not only smart and fast racers - but know how to work together and race smart. Throw in Smokin' Ray and the Cruces Crew - and look-out! Good times ahead.
In the oddly low key way I'm just getting used to - we were OFF!
I took off on the very outside, right behind one of Nina's young & strong teammates. He set a blistering pace, and I hung on for dear life. 2-3 laps later things were sorting out, and we had a few folks with/near us, and a long string of racers spread out on the twisty grassy course. I kept ignoring the red alerts going off from my engine room, and kept chasing this guy - who just wouldn't slow down! Of course I knew he was the rabbit I was chasing, while his two team mates, Nina and Alex - were building into a sustainable race pace while I was cracking. Bad. In a flash, Nina came around and gapped us! Amazing how fast races evolve... A moment later, her young 'cross phenom / team mate Alex did too. Then I realized I was going to be lucky to just survive this race. Wow. Every time the course hit the flat or climbing sections of grass (oh right - that describes 98% of the course!), it felt like my legs were pushing twice as hard with half the resultant speed I was used to on dirt - and 1/10th that of the road bike on that joyous, smooth, blacktop stuff (never thought I'd say that as a devout disciple of the Church of Dirt!).
Cruising around in damage control / survival mode, I watched as the best of the rest started closing in on me - a particularly mean aspect of these tight, twisty courses. Sitting out in no-mans land, I pushed and pushed as best possible, and coming through the start/finish area saw the official waving - I started thinking "cool - 1 or 2 laps to go, I can hang on". HA! He was telling us THREE to go. Each lap was in the 7-9 minute range, but felt like a hellish hour or two. At the next gradual, torturous grassy climb, one of the chief instigators in the B's - Chris aka C Cow - came around me and absolutely dropped the hammer. On a single speed CX bike. AND stood up and crushed the climb making me feel like I was stuck in reverse! Dang. That's how you pass!
Next up, with 1 or 2 laps to go, was my buddy Rich - newly minted cross addict - and his chaser. They'd been trading punches the whole race, and were grinding each other to a pulp. They came by, and once again I tried to hang on - but alas, my personal 'lights-out' bell lap was 15 minutes ago! Off they went and continued to push to the end, well ahead of me. Thankfully, on the quiet back-end of the course - there was a lone cheerleader; fellow FooMTB fool, Paige - who was unwavering in her ability to egg us on, and make me smile as I clawed my way up and over the run-up and the hurdles. On the front side, by the PA system and the finish line was Doug, aka Dug-da-goat, who was also relentless in his good natured cheering and coaching - and has showed Rich and I the best post-race breakfast burrito spot in Albuquerque.
At this point, it felt like I may not even make it around once more - though I'd rather crawl to the finish than give up just yet - and wait! One more straggler / chaser is reeling me in! Eh. I decide to do my best to hold him off, and we mark the finish at the last turn and then he was within a few bike lengths in no time, but just a bit late as we crossed the line in 8th and 9th places.
Holy crap that hurt. No joke. Granted, I'm at the end of a nasty cold that took me out the past week, and am way out of shape, and all those other excuses - but THIS day marked a clear need for a dedicated grass-conquering cross bike. Yow. The power I was pushing should have netted far more speed!
Next up? The end of the series and the state champs! A 1 - 2 punch the first weekend in December. MAYBE we'll even have some cooler weather and precipitation (gasp!) for one of these slug-fests. Whatever the weather - the NMCross folks sure know how to have fun, and I can't thank 'em all enough. If I can, and have the CX bike built - I'll even try the Saturday Night MONSTER CROSS in Tijeras under the lights.
Lord this will be a quickie.
After parting out and selling most of my road bike - but as yet without a dedicated CX bike, I hit Albuquerque with Rich ready to rumble on my Yeti ASR-SL - a great XC race bike, but not all that great for CX.
Couldn't possibly do worse (dnf) than the previous event, where I destroyed my buddies uber-bling 'crosser, and dammit - I wanted to finish a race! Got a tepid start position (again) and worked to the front as quickly as possible, where I found Rich ramping up quick and setting a great pace - came around him, told him to 'hop on' (my wheel / aka draft my big butt) and let's go!
I thought he was there, but he took up the team Glen and Rich defense and blocked all the other attackers from getting up to me and the few others at the front. Cool! The guy who set an initial pace of super-fast-drag-race-till-you-die all of a sudden decelerated and cracked (been there and done that!) - never to be seen again. This left me and one other guy, slowly gapping the field on our mountainbikes, which helped a little in the sand, but were a liability on the flats.
Six laps later we had both traded pulls and tactics, and were still neck-and-neck.
We rounded the last corner wheel-to-wheel and it was ON!!!
Given 100 more yards, he'd have got me - but thankfully, when it was done, I'd won. It's all I could do on my little guys first b-day, since I got the green light to race - I'd better make it worth it, or die trying.
Fun series we've got brewing here in NM - and excellent folks putting these events on. The 'cross crowd is as unpretentious and fun as you'll find anywhere - so run what ya brung, and have fun!
Stolen photo/link from Rich's blog - credit to his wife for snapping the shot:
