SCC#7 Evergreen Fairgrounds in Monroe

There was mud

The race was held at the Evergreen Fairgrounds in Monroe, about 30 minutes north of our house. The day started foggy and cool, and when I arrived at the race the fog was just beginning to burn off. The temperature quickly rose from a frigid 38 F to somewhere in the 40's. The course was held on and around a racetrack oval, and included a fair amount of pavement (actually it was probably the "requisite" amount of pavement per UCI cyclocross rules). There was a fun BMX section with a tabletop jump, and a steeply banked sweeping turn. Plenty of mud coated about 25% of the course, with another 25% on pavement, and the rest on wet sand and grass. It really had something for everyone, although the mountain bike-type would find it lacking in technical challenges.

The tabletop jump was cool. I didn't jump.

The race itself
I opted not to pre-ride, even though I was generously offered a bike to use so I wouldn't have to mud mine up, but the course looked really straightforward, so I just did a brief reconaissance before lining up for the start in the 4th row.

After the mad dash from the start was a hard right turn into an off-camber section before more pavement, and when I saw other races sprint hard only to slam on the brakes at this turn, I told myself to take it easy in the start. But, when our race actually took off, other than two guys bumping into each other, the start was so clean and smooth that I really should have taken more risk. I'm getting tired of poor starts, but in most cases it is entirely my fault, so at least it is something I can own and fix! That goal of getting up into the top 20 for a start is really my personal wall in cross this season. This weekend coming up is my last chance for a remedy!

The rest of the race went well. I ended up near the back at the start, but picked people off on all the straight sections, and in the 200 meter road of peanut butter mud that was one of the deciding factors in the race. If you had power, you could float through - but I saw a lot of riders slow down too much, or take a bad line, and get stuck, only to have to shoulder the bike and run the entire length of the pit. I was really happy with how this section went for me on every lap. I passed people every time through.

Amazingly, I got no mud in my mouth!

The only other tricky part on the course was a fast off-camber downhill left turn. There was a well-carved line, but a better line to its right proved better for me. Although the line I took was good, I was still a little too "on the brakes" through this downhill, and I think I got passed by one rider each time down it, except for the last lap. But, there was a straight section to a run-up immediately after, so I always got that place back.

In the end, I almost made it to the top 50%, getting 26th out of 43. My biggest disappointment was that after the race I realized I didn't really "leave it all on the course" and had plenty of go left in me.

I will remedy that problem, and the poor start this weekend!