Midpoint of the 2013 CX Season

I had no expectations this year for cross. Last year I was pulled from half the races I did and finished very near the back in the rare times the officials didn't spare mercy on me. But it was a fun style of racing and a great way to make the winter feel a whole lot shorter.

...And like the track, I quickly blew my low expectations out of the water...

At Jackson Park, the first Chi Cross Cup race of the season I passed half of the field in route to a 30th place finish.  And from there my staging position skyrocketed making it easier to be in a position to actually compete for placings. The next few races of the series I could tell I had a lot more power than most and my technical skills were adequate enough for anything that wasn't really difficult, however I kept putting myself in poor places - whether that be dropping chains, crashing, etc that would shed me from the front group quickly. A bigger takeaway that I've come across is that you want to be up front, you can't make a mistake. You can make excuses all you want, but that's not going to get you a win. Risk mitigate and improve in the areas you can control.

After finishing just outside of the top 10 in a few of the bigger CCC races and knowing that I still hadn't come close to putting together a full race - I knew that if I could manage to hold the front group I could probably compete not just for a good finish, but maybe for the win.

The 7th race of my fall season was in Evanston at the Rhythm and Blues Cyclocross Revue. It was a short course with a lot of laps and few obstacles which suited me really well since I'm still figuring out this sport. I was staged in the second row behind a teammate in a good sized field. The race started and my teammate was having some issues with his ride, I figured it was going to be another bad start and another race of chasing, but pretty quickly I was able to jump around every gap that opened up and by the end of the first lap I had connected with the front group for the first time this season. It appeared there were four or five of us in that lead group with another two to five not terribly far behind. Early on I tried to attack out of the group (track days coming out of me) just to see how strong everyone was and everyone instantly hung onto my wheel. It was a clear indicator that this race was going to stick together until the end.  The only hitch was that there were two riders from Rhythm racing in the group, which usually means you're going to have to fend off some attacks. With about four or five to go, there were one or two soft attacks from them, but I was able to cover them quickly and any attempt to go for the win would clearly be on the last lap.

The course was pretty windy that day and I think one of the Rhythm guys was going to try to lead his man out for the win. I had a few outs as I felt like as long as I had good positioning I was going to be able to out-sprint my peers, but also if I attacked, even if I didn't get a gap, I'd still exit the last technical section first and have a good head-start on a sprint. So I was ready and feeling decently good. I noticed in a few of the earlier laps that once we hit the backstretch the pacing seemed to slow up considerably (as it should - the leader was doing a lot of work). As the last lap came, I was fourth wheel entering that backstretch and as soon as I felt the speed begin to slow, I jumped as hard as I could. I figured the leader wasn't going to be able to cover as he was gassed, and the speed at which I moved around the other guys was going to require a pretty good effort as I think they were a bit caught off-guard by the move. By the third turn of this oval shaped course, I looked back and knew I had it as the gap appeared to be about 10 bike lengths. The only thing I had to focus on was keeping the pressure on in the straights and keeping the bike upright through the turns. And it happened.

I won a cross race.

Sort of a surreal moment moving through the finish line posting up. The wins I have on the track never really call for a post-up and I rarely won anything on the road in years past, so this was more or less a bit of a new experience. Thinking back ten months ago I couldn't finish a race, now I've won one against many of the same guys. My goals have changed: as long as I'm in a Category 3 race, I want to approach it to win it...and of course have fun, as I'm confident that's whats gotten me here. I will need a lot of work in the offseason to improve my technical skills, but I know what I need to improve on and will.

Katie's been having a great season too - placed 5th out of more than 20 girls at the Evanston race and consistently has been placing in the top half of her field. It's been a blast to watch and we're having fun with it.

Anyways - the state and regional championships will be here very soon; here's to a good & fun finish to the rest of the season!