During the UCI Cyclocross in Chicago yesterday, the main factor was the wind. The wind was blowing pretty hard and it made the tactics all that more important. I was wrong in my prediction of a messy affair. The snow that fell on Saturday seemed to just disappear and the ground was pretty frozen all day long. The sun came out about an hour before the men’s race and started melting the exposed soil, so the corners got slicker before the start.

I had a very good race, at least compared to how I thought I’d do. I had a very good day, physically and bike handling. The race was held on a golf course. One of my sayings is cyclocross would even be hard if we just raced on a golf course. And that was exactly what this was. There was only one small hill on the course and the rest was just riding, serpentining around the greens and trees. We did one stretch through 3 sand bunkers in a row, which were pretty much frozen, so not really an issue unless you screwed them up.

There were only 35 guys in the race, but a lot of good riders. I picked a pretty good random number and lined up on the 3rd row, which was a nice surprise. The race started directly into the headwind, so no one really wanted to go out fast. I probably could have been leading after 3 turns if I really wanted to, but slotted in 8th or 9th. The speed on the first lap was fast, but not insane. About 1/2 the field was still together most of the whole lap.

The 2nd lap, I moved up a few slots and rode around in 4th for a while. Jonathan Page came by and I let him in. Then Brian Matter. I was hardly going to fight for position in a race where my finish place was pretty irrelevant. About 1/2 way through this lap, I think, it might have been the next lap, I got in trouble. We were definitely going fast enough that I was on the rivet. I’d screwed up a corner and Tristan Schouten had gone by me. He was riding sort of tentatively the first couple laps, apprehensive on the corners, which wasn’t good for me. With my athletic abilities, I need to be going through the corners at least as fast, or faster than the guys I’m with, resting whenever I have a chance. Anyway, Tristan took a left sweeper really wide and my luck was I was right behind him to his outside. He got a little off balance and got into the ribbons and then started breaking off the stakes. I think he snapped off 2 or 3 while I was trying to extract myself from being overlapped with his rear wheel. By the time I got by him, there was a huge gap in front of me.

I made a big surge to try to reconnect with the front group, but I hit the sand pits with way too much speed and exiting one, I caught a ton of air and did a nose wheelie to land. I managed to keep it up, but knew I couldn’t get back up to the front on my own. The problem was that all the guys behind me were there for a reason. None of us had the power to close the gap. So, a group of 9 guys rode away and I just stayed in the new glob. There were only 3 or 4 of us for the first couple laps, but eventually Tristan came back, then Cody Kaiser and a few others, so group became maybe 8 or so.

We were going so slowly compared to the first couple laps. I had a chance to recover some. From then on, I was well within myself. It is so enjoyable knowing that you have a whole ‘nother gear, with plenty of reserve. The laps were pretty short, all under 6 minutes, so we ended up riding 11 laps. Coming into 3 laps to go, I was deciding what I wanted to do. I was happy with the result already and had to think if I wanted to ride super hard for a while or just the pace we’d been going. I felt good, nearly great, the best I’ve felt in months, so I decided to do a big effort. I don’t really have any explanation why that happen. One week/month you’re struggling and then just a day later, it is easy. I guess that is why we ride.

I went to the front of our group after we had crossed the line for 3 to go and sort of attacked. I didn’t really attack full out, because I was pretty sure that the speed I could carry through the corners would do a lot of damage to the guys I was riding with. Adam Myerson got on me and we rode off the front of the group nearly instantly. I wasn’t too worried about having Adam sitting on, because I needed at least one guy with me because if I finished 10th, I would get UCI points which would disqualify me to race Worlds in Louisville. Adam stayed with me about 2/3rd’s a lap and then came off. My group was split into pieces.

I settled into a pace and rode pretty well the last two laps. The end of the race seemed easy because it would be a big effort against the wind and then a rest on the technical turns and tailwind sections. That suits my style pretty well. On the last lap I was catching Isaac Neff, Trek, who seemed to be running out of steam. That would be 9th. So, I looked behind me and Tristan was coming back up to me quickly, which was nice. I didn’t really ease up much and Tristan caught me pretty fast. I told him that I didn’t want to finish 10th, but was planning to put in a big dig to catch Issac. Tristan passed me with about 1/3 a lap to go and caught Isaac right after the barriers and out sprinted him. I took it easy and cruised in for 11th, which is the best place I could get and still race Master’s Worlds.

I felt pretty good about the whole day. I felt good warming up the first time, then the 2nd time I went and pre-rode the course, I felt weird, sluggish and a little off balance. I was definitely gassed early on, so when a couple mishaps occurred, I didn’t have the juice to overcome that. I would have liked to ride around the whole day in the front. If I could have survived another lap or two early, I think I could have been fine. I rode the fastest 9th lap of the race of everyone, so obviously was going better towards the end than early. But, Tim Johnson did two laps, back to back, his 10th and 11th, that were 15 seconds faster than my 9th lap. I could have ridden a few seconds faster, but there is no way I could have ridden two laps alone, at Tim’s pace.

So, I went and got my $76 prize check and drove back to Trudi’s mom’s, showered, went out to eat with her, and then drove up to Delavan. There is so much snow on the ground here and Tristan says it is deeper further North. We’re staying here, washing clothes, bikes, etc. and then heading to Madison tomorrow sometime. I have to watch myself, because when I get in this high energy mode, then it is easy to try to do way too much and get over extended. I don’t think I need to do much of anything the next few days, I obviously have good enough fitness for this week. The key is trying to keep it around for a few more weeks.

Results. It was nice being only a minute and a half back considering how many slow laps my group rode. But, it was a tactical race. Click to enlarge.

Lap times.

Leaving one of the sand pits early. It was hard not to catch air.

Earlier in the race with Brian Matter, who had a pretty good race and finished 5th.

Leaving the sandpit with 3 to go with Adam Myerson.

Close to the end with Tristan, who rode back up to 9th after his mishap early.

I watched an interview with Matt Damon on public tv yesterday. I was mildly surprised how well spoken the guy was and how spot on his observations were. One thing that he said that resonated with me was something like “The most rewarding part of doing your job well is the little things that no one else knows about but you. The things that make you tick and the efforts only you know.” That wasn’t even close, but it was the best I can do now. It was strange because it was something that I was thinking, nearly exactly, earlier out riding.

Someone asked me just a bit ago why I still like to ride my bike so much and compete after all these years. I have a lot of different reasons, lots I’ve stated before here, but in reality, there are so many things involved that it is impossible for me to list them. So many little, itty-bitty things that wouldn’t mean anything, but to me. Or at least it seems that way until we run into each other and we don’t even have to bring up those things because we all know them.

The reason I liked racing so much on Sunday in Chicago was because it is so nice get some personal reward for all the efforts and sacrifices. I don’t really care about the place. Like I said yesterday, now, I would really have liked to be riding around in the front group, but that didn’t happen. But, being able to ride super fast around on grass on the golf course was fun, beyond fun. Trying to explain it to someone that doesn’t know bikes, it would sound like something so stupid. Doing 6 minute circles on wet, frozen grass, in the middle of winter in Chicago. But, it takes years to accumulate the skill set to be able to do it, and when it sort of comes together, at least to an personal acceptable degree, then it is a good reward, satisfaction. And the icing on the cake is that our peers get it.

I ride bikes for millions of reasons, like I stated above. It is something like Johnathan Livingston Seagull (one of my favorite all time books). The art of riding a bike, is sort of like what I would imagine it would be like if we could fly. We sort of do fly in our own way. And refining the ability to ride is what we’re doing our whole lives. And we don’t necessarily need races or others to confirm what we innately know. Cyclocross is the epitome of this. No one rides a perfect cross race. It can always be done better. That is one of the best things about it. It is one of the reasons I’m still in love with the sport.

I rode over to Lake Geneva from Delavan yesterday. It was around freezing, but the wind was blowing probably close to 25 mph. I took it super easy both ways. I don’t ride easy much, hardly ever. I had to check myself multiple times and make sure I wasn’t going hard at all. When you’re doing that, it is much easier just looking around. I really liked the contrast of riding on the dry, salt stained roads, the piles of snow on the sides, with all the lakes and fields frozen, snow covered. And there I was, self contained, all warm, bundled up, out in the elements, feeling pretty good. I wasn’t thinking at all about racing bikes. I was thinking how nice it was to be outside on such a miserable day, doing something so enjoyable, which made it a very nice day.

We’re heading over to Madison in a couple hours. I don’t really want to ride around the course today, but I think it is good getting a view of it and that lets our minds digest and mull over the different parts, subconsciously, thus making it easier to ride later. I’ll post some photos of the course later.

“Don’t believe what your eyes are telling you. All they show is limitation. Look with your understanding. Find out what you already know and you will see the way to fly.”
― Richard Bach, Jonathan Livingston Seagull

The sunset of Lake Delavan. Just one of the reasons I ride bikes.