The Race: Tacchino Cyclocross
The Course: 45 minutes of JOY JOY JOY
The Field: 1/2/3 women
The Finish: Somewhere around 1.5 laps to go, to the right of the course
After finishing my ‘last race of the season’ at Thater with a burning desire for more, I quickly registered for the TD Bank Mayor’s Cup NCC Crit in Boston at the end of September. A month seemed like a long time to wait to race, but with no road events easily accessible earlier in the month, I decided to register for a single cross race. What fun! I thought, imagining a breezy autumn day spent zipping merrily around a delightfully fast, grassy course followed by sipping craft beer and nibbling frites.
Things I did not take into consideration: it’s been over a year since I’ve ridden anything unpaved, my cross bike was missing key elements like the drivetrain, I was never particularly gifted at steering a bike offroad, it’s been ages since I used eggbeater pedals or tried dismounting and running with the bike, etc.
Andrew was kind enough to cannibalize other bikes to pull together a cross bike that we could both use on race day, but between the mismatched colors, the excess lengths of the steerer tube and rear derailleur cable (which clanged loudly in the spokes throughout the race), and the bottle cages (my choice, I’ll admit, because I am a thirsty person), it was not the sexiest build. This was made even clearer when Andrew rolled up to my start on a sleek bike he’d borrowed moments earlier to ride in lieu of ol’ Frankenbike.
My third-row start position wasn’t ideal. When the whistle blew, people took off fast and suddenly it seemed like there were a LOT of riders between me and the front. I dug in hard and forced my way up through the pack, settling in a bit behind the lead group. It was a little discouraging – I was going hard, but the gap wasn’t closing and I was struggling to handle the bike through the twists and turns of the course while maintaining speed*. Then I caught a few riders and started feeling giddy, which translated into riding harder and more out of control. As in, pedal pedal pedal OH SHIT that’s a course stake SWERVE pedal pedal OH CRAP there’s a sharp turn. It was not exactly a poetic ballet of cycling.
Then things fell apart. My back had started to ache during my off-road practice ride the day before, but I figured it was just normal soreness and part of the acclimation process. By two laps into the race, my back was not so much aching as it was shrieking, and each time I dug deep to climb a small hill or speed up after a turn, it screamed louder. My pace dropped off, people started to pass me, I tried to go harder, and was greeted with more pain and less speed. It was ugly and, after that whole serious back injury thing from 2010, somewhat scary. So I did what I have never done before: I quit. Pulled over to the side of the course, got off my bike, and walked back to the main race area.
It was disappointing and somewhat embarrassing. I like to think I’m a hardcore bike racer and instead I walked off the course in my first voluntary DNF. Was it the right choice? Hell yes. Risking a serious injury because I’m too proud to admit to jumping into something without enough planning or preparation would be foolish. But it still stung and reminded me of how far I’ve come from the days when racing offroad was my whole life.
All that being said, it was fun to be out there on a gorgeous day with a great crowd of people. Going forward, I’m going to do an occasional ride offroad, both because it is crazy fun and because having those skills/strengths will be useful on the road. And I plan to participate heavily in the MABRA cross scene…from the sidelines.
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*My favorite part of the race was probably when, during the first lap, somebody on my wheel started yelling at me as we raced through a slick, twisty section of the course. Apparently she thought bellowing “come on! go! come on!” and other helpful things in a highly-irritated voice would, like, make me go faster or something. Because clearly I did not know that objective was to go fast and clearly all my skills needed to improve was somebody telling me I sucked. When I finally yelled, “HOW ABOUT YOU TRY SHUTTING UP” in return, she tried to explain that it was ‘all in good fun’. You know what else would be fun? If I turned around and bludgeoned you with my bike. That would be fun, too!
Quitting a race is absolutely the hardest thing a competitive individual can do. Also the smartest. Bravo.
ha ha ha… at the last Tuesday evening Bryan Park of the series I was pulling as hard as I could and someone behind me yells “Keep Going!!” Ummm that’s the whole idea and I actually think that wondering why in hell someone would state the clear obvious distracted me enough that I slowed down, most likely to spite him. Anyone who uses the word “bludgeoned” is A-OK in my book.
My experience every year in Baltimore at Charm City. I always think I’ll be competitive. Back hurts like hell, shins bruised up because of the pedal slamming into the shin. Fingers blistered because I’m holding on too tightly. The best part is that if I crash… which I do, it typically doesn’t hurt that much and no road rash. The heckling, just goes with the territory of CX…It’s fun, I just keep laughing and yes… I finish close to last every time. I think I’ll do it again.