Copper Cross - Two Cross Races Under My Belt

While I still need lots of practice,
it is still so much fun to ride on the dirt again.
My last Mountain Bike race was in 1997.

I had a great time at Copper Cross on Sunday. The weather was a very un-cross-like 80-degrees, and South SeaTac Park was dry and dusty.

My goals this time were simple. Do better than last time (in terms of placing), and don't crash at all. I pre-rode the course three times, each time getting a better feel for it. There was significantly more single track riding than Labor Day Cyclocross, and the lap was quite a bit longer. It wasn't really much harder, but the length, the sand, and a couple more run-ups than the last race would take their toll. I have to accept that I really don't ride well on sand. I need to work on it, but there aren't a lot of nearby areas to practice. I'll have to hunt for some.

Anyway, the race was off, and I did my usual relaxed sprint since I knew I should NOT be the first person to the dirt. Really I do this out of kindness to the other riders, since I would definitely be a bottleneck on the singletrack. Of course, maybe that should be our team strategy - let a couple of my teammates go in front of me, and cover their wheels. When we hit the dirt, I can do my usual flailing around and almost crashing, slowing down the rest of the pack!

Thankfully, there are some great photos from the race (thanks, Joe Martin!), so you all can see me in a cross race. Here are all of them with captions:

Me and team mate Dave Stanton.
This was some of the last few minutes when I could see the leaders...

Did I say it was dusty? One of the sandy corners and then the next run-up

Heading up the run-up. Yes, I am smiling.
There was a guy with a dollar bill sticking out of his butt,
offering it to anyone who rode the hill.

Taking the first of the barriers in the infield.

rounding the corner not long after the barriers
I gotta learn to drop my inside foot so I can corner faster

This guy passed me on the last lap.
You can see how he made up some time on me (no fair - he's on a mountain bike)

pedal hard out of the turns

final lap, last 100 meters or so,
I am neck and neck with Matt Beers (fellow Cat 3 track racer)
who is riding a single-speed cross bike
(no shifting, so he's stuck with whatever he's got in front and back)

You can see he has the edge on me being inside on the turn, but...

My running speed helps me make up the distance
by the time we hit the first barrier of two

Unfortunately, there were two turns left, and he got the inside on both of them, just beating me at the line. It didn't really matter, since we weren't in the same race (he was in the singlespeed category, and I was in the Cat 3 men).

Total race length was 4 laps, and I averaged just under 12 minutes per lap. The winner, Jeff, from my team, averaged closer to 10:30 per lap! I'm sure glad to have such talented team mates from whom I can learn a ton. My team mates finished with 5 of the top 10 in the Cat 3 race, plus we had the top Women's Cat 4 (on a singlespeed!), top Men's Cat 4, and top Master's Cat 1/2 35+ year old.

I met my goals - I never crashed, despite many close calls in the sand, and I finished a significantly better 15th out of 25 racers.

My next race is Starcrossed, which has NO singletrack, and is all grass plus some pavement. I'd like to think the course will suit me better, but we'll see. At least it is on and around the Marymoor Velodrome, so I will be intimately familiar with the surroundings! Then, for some crazy reason, I will be doing the follow up race, the RAD Racing GP, the next day. It's going to be a fun and tough weekend!