It was cool and foggy. Mens 4/5 was the first race of the
morning, and I got three practice laps in before the start. The first lap
seemed treacherous – this was a well-rounded course, more spread out that
quadcross, and a real variety of terrains. There were several
seemingly-improbably off-camber turns, a couple steep hills, and some pavement.
One thing I learned was just how much worse my brakes were riding in wet grass.
I almost ate it coasting into the barriers. I was moving faster than my legs
could carry me running through the barriers (this would come up again in
Gloucester). I’m not sure how I managed to avoid crashing, and I learned a good
lesson. The second and third laps were much better. The off-cambers weren’t
that bad in reality, and I gained confidence.
The race started, and as I have come to learn is usual, the
first lap was chaos. In particular, everyone except the leaders who sprinted
following the start and around the soccer field were all held up at the first
off-camber turn. Lesson learned: if I’m going to be middle or back of the pack,
inspect the early part of the course for potential bottlenecks and see where I
can reserve energy.
For most of the rest of the race, I ended up battling with
2-3 other riders. One guy was great in the twisty woods and he would pull away
from me. Then I would overtake him in the long, straight sections. I actually managed
to beat that guy – awesome!
But I had problems with the laps again. This time I learned
how the laps worked – after the second lap, the judges would extrapolate the
number of laps the leader could finish in under 40 minutes, and then tell us
how many laps remained. Unfortunately, even knowing this, I still messed up. I
didn’t see the sign that said “4 laps to go” and instead thought I only had
four laps in total. When I finished my fourth lap and saw “2 laps to go,”
again, my heart sunk! I grit my teeth and kept going.
Then, halfway through my fifth lap, I noticed someone
gaining on me. My first thought was that it was some jerk doing a practice lap.
Then, by the time the guy came up on me I probably only had 1/5 the lap
remaining and I realized it was the leader – lapped! I got on his wheel, but
couldn’t pass him. The judges were clapping and said “good job” to him, and
something else to me – I wasn’t sure what. I didn’t know if I was disqualified
or what. So I kept going and did my sixth lap. Lesson learned – when you get
lapped, you finish on the same lap as the leader.
Aside from getting lapped, I did fairly well for a beginner.
I finished mid-pack, didn’t fall, and managed to clean almost all the turns.
The one time I didn’t I had the presence of mind to unclip and get a foot down,
so I stayed up. Another skill to work on!
