G-men ‘Cross in Golden

November 13, 2005 - photos here

After some modest success in my first cyclocross race I was excited to try another. These races are a blast. The race designers do a great job in using the terrain to form interesting, challenging, fun courses. There were two races this weekend, but my friend Mike Record and I agreed to do the G-men ‘Cross race down in Golden. Our race, the 35+/4’s started at 10:30 a.m. down at the Federal Center. My whole family came down with me to cheer us on and they did a great job. They rang their bells, took photos, and cheered wildly for Mike and me.

It was very cold, in the 30’s, and everyone raced in leggings and long sleeves. It was so cold that I took both of my warm-up laps in my down jacket. Once again, they let you warm up on the course; you just have to be careful not to affect the racers. This course had a lot of pavement on it and most of that on a road, so it was easy to pass people, not that I did much passing.

My strategy this time was to start at the front and try to stay there. The field was a lot smaller this time, probably only thirty starters versus the fifty we had at the last race. The “Cross Boss” Dan Miller was there, racing for ICCC. Dan is a friend of mine and a great guy. He won the last two cross races and got second in another race. He’s the padrone of the 35+/4’s and no one even tried to beat him off the line at the start. The rest of us fell into a line behind Dan, just trying to hang on as long as we could. Dan is the strongman and he doesn’t mind leading wire to wire. In fact, that’s how he almost always wins.

Mike staged just behind me. I staged in the front row next to Dan. When the gun went off I settled into 4th position. The course starts on a paved road and then quickly goes to a paved road that is closed in a state of disrepair. Still, it had two good lines, but no one came by me. I was going hard, but not that hard. After a bit it went to a singletrack and then over two barriers at a 150-degree turn. Some more single track let to some two-track, then some loose dirt/grass corners to a short downhill and then a steep uphill with a barrier on it. This uphill was really short and then you came right back down it, around on some more single track and out onto the road. Now we had a gradual climb on the road of about 200-300 meters. This would prove to be a key section on the course as it was the best place to pass people. I made my move here on the first lap and moved up into second place behind Dan.

At the top of the hill, we made a U-turn and came down the other side of the street, which is separated by a grass median. Then we turned hard left over some loose dirt and onto a bike path for a bit and then a dirt singletrack, all of this uphill. Then we did some tight tricky turns on a singletrack to the only mud section on the course. This was short, but definitely had potential to dump you. I didn’t fall off here, but I did lose ground here at least once. After the mud, we went down a really steep, very bumpy hill, across a field to a short steep hill with a barrier. At the top of this hill you had to run straight down the other side because another super steep hill was immediately after it, with even some steps cut in the steep slope. These steep hills were only about ten feet high and about thirty feet apart. I closed up right behind Dan in this section and we had a good gap on the rest of the field.

We rode across a field and out onto a road for a number of tight turns on pavement, before back onto the dirt and then down into a cement culvert and then up the other side to the start/finish line. I was right on Dan’s wheel at the end of the first lap, but by then we had picked up a third. “Shitake mushrooms!” I thought, “Where did this guy come from?” We rode as a tight group of three until the uphill road section when my chaser, Doug, went by me. Dan was starting to stretch out a lead over me and Doug jumped into that gap.

At each of the out-and-back sections, I looked for Mike to urge him on, but I never saw him. These out-and-back sections are not that long, so he could have been only thirty seconds back and I wouldn’t have seen him. At the end of the second lap, Dan and Doug had gapped me and were duking it out. I was about 20 seconds back. I started to get fearful about my podium spot and started to measure my lead over the fourth place rider, Justin Green. This is never a good sign. I kept working hard and Dan’s lead didn’t grow any further. After another lap or two I noticed that Dan had shed Doug and Doug was coming back to me. I worked hard on the hill and closed down the gap a bit. Sheri and the boys were wildly cheering me on. I had to make my move. At the next road section I went by Doug, back into 2nd place. We had three laps to go.

I figured to drop Doug, since he had come back to me and I worked hard to do so. I got a gap on Doug a couple of times coming out of the barriers, but he’d always shut it down. On the penultimate lap, I figured to drop him on the road hill climb, but he stuck on my wheel like stink on a warthog. I knew then that who ever topped this hill on the last lap would have the best chance at second place. Yes, I had given up on catching Dan. We closed the gap down to 17 seconds but that was it.

I dropped my chain halfway through the last lap and Doug, right on my heels, notified me of this as I ran a barrier. I hopped on the bike, threw the shifter to the left, and pulled it back onto the chainring, thereby keeping Doug behind. It was all for naught, though, for as soon as we hit the hill for the last time he punched it hard up the hill. I knew the move was going to come here and yet I still let him take me by it. I was hurting and just wasn’t tough enough to jump first, hoping I could just keep my effort up and stay in front. I pressured him the rest of the way, but couldn’t pull off a pass. I finished two seconds behind him and about 20 seconds behind the winner, Dan. Mike continued to have the chain-dropping problems that plagued him at the last race. He persevered to finish a strong 12th for a big improvement over last week.

I was thrilled with my result, of course. My best finish in a bike race has been 3rd, which I did twice this year in road racing, and now I have a 3rd in cross racing, in only my second race. I have tons of room for improvement in my technical riding and these skills could have save me the energy to move up to second place. To challenge Dan I also need to be a lot fitter. He’s very fit and very skilled, but even more dangerous is his confidence. He goes right to the front and challenges anyone to stay with him. So far, no one can. Kudos to Dan. Now upgrade, you sandbagger!