Cyclocross!

thy name equals pain. I had no idea what to expect and with all of 12 miles on my cross bike prior to the Harbin Park training Wednesday night, I had little expectations. It was good to see a few familiar faces as April took me around the course prior to the start of the training. Then training started soon after!

We all did a warm up lap (lap = a mile or so??) and took a rest. Two laps were next and my brakes failed on the steep (for me) downhill section of lap one. Kept going and, uh, lap two was faster since I had no rear brake. Back to the start for a 5 minute rest and I fixed my brakes. Three laps were now on the agenda.

The route goes past a picnic shelter right into the dismount for jumping over the barriers. This went ok, but it was on an uphill and I had to push my bike to a flat section to jump back on. Then we weave through trees and a hit a false flat section where due to my single speed I had to stand the whole time.......my bike starts making a hideous popping noise. Up the paved uphill, through the frisbee golf course, down the hill, through the woods, pop pop pop. Tried a second lap and made it to the false flat. Pushed the bike to my car and my rear wheel had come loose (horizontal dropouts and track bolts not tightened enough). Fixed and back on for lap three. No further issues.

Next up was two laps, handicapped. First were us beginners. One minute later, advanced. One minute later, expert. Other than not being good at clipping in just yet on the Candies, I was able to hang with the other beginners...kind of. I suck at right turns and had to make time up elsewhere.

After that, lightning set in and I headed back to the office while the others practiced starts or something.

Cyclocross riding makes me feel like a little kid. Jumping on and off, riding through grass, etc. It's a bit nicer than the uptight roadie scene and the even more uptight time trial scene. Don't get me wrong, I love the road, but I never feel like a kid when I'm staring down a power meter wondering why it's off by 100 watts... ;-)