Jingle CX: Friday Night Lights

I got up on Friday morning all excited to go race my bike. Packed up the car and headed to Trevor, WI to the bike lab to meet up with Dave. I had never been to Dave’s house, but it is awesome. Seriously, it’s a bike geek’s paradise in that basement. But anyways, we packed up his car and got on the road to make the 4 hour drive to Iowa City. The drive was nice, we didn’t turn on the radio once and we talked the entire time.

We arrived at the hotel and dropped off a few things and then drove a few extra miles down the road to the race course as the sun began to get lower in the sky. When we arrive the sunlight was fading quickly, but I was able to get 2 laps in while it was still light out. The course was pretty fun. It had this tough off-camber section where there were these muddy ditches you had to go through to get in or out of the section. That was followed by a fly-over that was seriously steep. Finally after that there was Mt. Crumpet. Mt. Crumpet was this terribly steep run up. I had to walk it sometimes it was so steep. Some guys rode it, but I don’t know how. That section of the course was tough, but before and after it everything was technically interesting but not hard on the legs. I got off the course and watched a few more races before my race went off in the Cat 2 men.

I started back row. Hooray! There were only 4 rows so it wasn’t so bad, but still, I knew that good start was important. The start chute was a really open and long road section so it made passing easy. I was able to hit my pedal right away but got caught behind a couple of guys who didn’t and was pushed to the back until I made some key passes around the left to get into 10^th place or so. Then after the opening set of twists and turns 1^st and 2^nd got a little gap. Coming into the off-camber section the leader of our little group took a spill in the mud and held up everyone except me so I was able to slot into 3^rd place. I spent the rest of the first lap catching 2^nd place while 1^st, Jordan Cullen, was way ahead at this point. We rode together for remainder of lap 1 and lap 2. I was riding very fast, and extremely consistent. Jeff, the guy who was with me was riding quickly, and had more punch than I did. He attacked a few times but each time I would claw him back within a minute or so. Finally on the straight away I decided to come around him. I did so on the finish straight and rode at the front until Mt. Crumpet where his ability to run bested me. The sun was now completely down and we were riding under just the lights.

Jeff pushed the pace again and got a gap. I completely gave it everything I had to catch his wheel and came very close through the pinwheel, but wasn’t able to do it. He had a 5 second gap with 2 to go. The gap moved around a little and I almost made contact again with one to go, but just couldn’t do it all the way.  I had to settle for second. It was an awesome race, so much fun. I felt a little beat mentally because I feel like I gave up on the last lap, but in hind sight, I wouldn’t’ have caught him either way.

But the fans were amazing. I really wanted to give them a good show. The crowds were cheering so loud, and all the people I knew were as well. On top of all that, anyone knows that Cyclocross is something of a spectacle. But racing under the light is something entirely different. Besides the obvious fact that its dark and the lighting are different, mentally it’s different too. The spectacle is so much bigger. You really feel like you’re on stage, like you’re being shown off. It helps you go that much harder. Overall, it was a great night.