Whew - busy weekend with the travel up to Bellingham for Cacade Cyclocross at the Bellingham BMX park for Saturday and then back down to Everett for the MFG race at Silver Lake. Coming off my rest week, I wasn't sure how things would go, but getting experience of the 1/2 races is always helpful. I also figured that seeing a whole new course would be a fun little experience.
We drove up to Bellingham on Friday to make sure that I was well-rested and ready for the race on Saturday. The Bellingham BMX park is part of a larger chunk of land, so the owners have decided to build a permanent Cyclocross course on the premises; a very cool idea, even if it is a bit of a journey to get up there. The layout was pretty interesting with a mix of tight and cambered corners, a few sections through the woods, and some deeper sections for mud. Mud would be the key word though, since they had just built the course a few weeks ago, just in time for the big rains we have been having. Even though the run-in to the race had been dry, the course still featured ankle-deep mud pits with ranges from thinner soup to sticky peanut-butter, just to keep things grueling.
We lined up in front of the Masters and the Singlespeed fields, under an unseasonably warm 70 degree day. When the bell rang, I managed a good start and was in the front group as some of the field was caught in the first corners and the first sections of mud. I was running full-gas for the first lap, but slowly lost contact with the leaders as we hit the longer mud sections and the run-up into the woods. I did my best to navigate the next few laps and hold position as best as possible. A few times I ended up getting stuck coming into tricky sections behind the slower single-speed riders, losing time before finally getting a passing line.
With a few laps to go, the leaders had caught me. I jumped onto their wheels and was able to chase their lines for awhile, learning some of the faster lines they had chosen. At this point, it was just about surviving for the next few laps, as other riders were running out of steam or succumbing to mechanical issues. As I approached the final line, I hit the gas and was very happy to be finished. Final position was 12th of the 21 starters, so not too bad, however with only 15 of us finishing the entire race, I was definitely toward the back.
After the race was an important clean-up procedure; washing off pounds of mud from the bike and myself (luckily the boat-shop right next to our parking spot had a hose they let me use; it definitely saved a lot of time compared to our small hand-pump sprayer!). I needed to make sure everything was going to be ready for the race on Sunday since I wouldn't be home beforehand. With all that work finished, it was time for a welcome rest for the night!
The morning dawned with another sunny day, although luckily a little cooler. After getting all the gear packed up, we were on the road back down to Everett and out to Silver Lake for the 3rd MFG race of 2013. Silver Lake has never been a course that I have had good results at, but it is always an interesting event. The long stretches of sand are difficult, and are separated with steep climbs and descents out of a mountain bike race.
As will every MFG race this season, I ended up with a 3rd row starting position, but I tried to position myself behind some of the faster guys to get a good starting shot. When the bell rang, we shot up the paved section and flew into the first corners before a steep hill and flying into some off-camber descending. At this point I was fighting for mid-pack position and then we started some switchback climbing up to the top of the park. A short section of pavement lead into a very fast and steep descent that curved around a bunch of trees to shoot us into the shorter sand section. This was then followed with a long paved climb to the other half of the course and into some winding paths through the trees. Next was some short climbs and drops before being flung back to the beach and along the very long beach section before starting the madness once again.
At the end of this busy weekend, it was definitely time to get working again and see what I can manage to pull together for the rest of the season. These races were definitely eye-opening as I was surprised at how fast I was running out of gas and comparing my speed to the leaders. I feel like the season so far has been a good way to see how the 1/2 field compares to the 3s, and while it is much harder, I plan to adjust my training to make sure I am doing better for the rest of the season.
See you next weekend for Seattle Cyclocross #2 in Carnation.
