Jingle Cross Rock
This Sunday was the Jingle Cross Rock in Iowa City and given that the race was the talk of the town I figured I better go check it out. Plus Dave and I didn't have to drive as Paul R. agreed to break out the RV for one more road trip.
We gathered at John and Michele's place at 7:15am to load 6 bikes and a zillion spare wheels and assorted crap into the RV and Paul, John, Michele, Glen, Dave and I set off down the road to Iowa. (See photo of my bike riding on the bed in style) Oh the good times we had on our way . . . confusing some poor store clerk when we each
paid $8 for gas but not in a organized fashion and I suppose me video taping the whole thing just added to her sense that we were all crazy. Then there was the parking and reparking of the RV so that it was angled just perfectly to avoid the wind and maximize our space. And then there were the never ending jokes about the shopping mall (the women's winners were getting mall gift certificates cause you know women prefer shopping).
When we arrived at the race I was horrified and dismayed to see long straight away followed by long straight away followed by long straight away. Before my knee surgery I would say that long straight aways were not my thing but the loss in leg strength after the surgery has only exacerbated the problem. I dread races that are for the "power" riders. I knew it was going to seem like a long race.
There were 15 women in the race and my goal was to not be last which I knew would be a challenge on this course. As always though I rocketed off from the start and was around 6th place for awhile. I might be slow in the end but I am a fast starter. Unfortunatley once we hit the long straight away in the wind I started slipping back. I really do try to hold people's wheels but I just can't.
Anyway, there was also this muddy creek section that had two dismounts to run down one side of the bank and then back up the other. I would have enjoyed that a bit more if I had two spikes in my shoes and if the tread on my shoes wasn't worn down to almost nothing. I know that I need new shoes but I didn't want to break in new shoes and cleats during cross season. I wanted the predicatability of my old shoes. The up side to this section is that a lot of people would fiddle around on the last remount trying to clip back into their pedals and I would just get back on and pedal whether I clipped in or not. Eventually you'd clip in but I guess some people just don't feel comfortable riding on the top of their pedals.
There was also this uphill to downhill chicane that then lead to a 180 degree turn into uphill barriers. People were doing some crazy stuff there. You needed to swing your leg over as you coasted down the hill and then get off right before the corner. In my race the women were doing all kinds of crazy maneuvers there that made no sense to me. Hopefully no one stole my secret move so I can use it on them again next year when I will hopefully be faster.
On one lap I was riding with this woman on a mountain bike and she passed me right before the windy straight away. It seemed weird to me but I was psyched since I was so slow in that section. I had this sweet draft and she wasn't even trying to get me to pull through. At one point someone was cheering for us and yelling to work together. I figured that was maybe a good point so I decided to pull through for awhile and then maybe we could catch some of the gals in front of us. She wouldn't have it though. As I pulled out to pass her she sped up so I got back in her draft. I decided to give it one more try but same thing happened so I just gave up and let her pull the whole way through the wind.
Of course, once we were out of the wind I pulled ahead and not much later I had a gap on her which just keep growing. I hope everyone doesn't think I'm just a "wheel-sucker" as I would have worked with her to try and catch the women in front of me. It was nice of her to give me a little rest through the section I was the worst at though. Unfortunatley it was a hugely flawed plan on her part. Oh well. I might be slow but I try to race smart as much as possible to compensate. If I knew her I undoubtedly would have told her at the end of the race about the mistake and instructed her on the finer points of drafting in the wind but I don't know her so she'll have to read this blog to know.
In the end it didn't turn out as badly as I thought it might. I ended up 12th out of 15 and I didn't get lapped. I don't think I was even that close to being lapped as I couldn't see Linda who won when I was looking back to see where the women behind me were. Given the course that was a big success.
Did I mention how awesome everyone else I know did??? Dave won his first cross race prize ever with 5th in the 40+ (and if he could sprint he might have gotten 2nd). Glenn got 1st in the 50+ and Michele was 7th in the Women's race. In the 30+ John was 4th and Mark was 2nd. Thomson won the Junior race and then jumped on his singlespeed and raced that race too. In the A Men's race Jim was 5th, Kurt rocked his comeback with 8th, Chris was 14th, Mark was 15th, Paul was 23rd and John was 24th. Plus Paul and John were crowd favorites as they were the only ones riding the second muddy creek crossing . . . not even Tilford was pulling that move. Too bad Matt was sick and didn't go as he would have been riding it for sure and making Tilford suffer.
One last thing - I do have to mention something that really bothered me about the race . . . the women were racing for $500 in gift certificates while the A men were racing for $1995 in cash. That's a little insulting. And the top women's gift certificate was only $125 while the top man got $800. Do they think 30 men would have shown up to race for $125? Well, 15 women did and I think we deserve better. I think it belittles the time, money and effort that women spend on racing. I guess it would be better for me to email the race promoter though than complain on my blog. Those mall gift certificates did make for great jokes all day long.
We gathered at John and Michele's place at 7:15am to load 6 bikes and a zillion spare wheels and assorted crap into the RV and Paul, John, Michele, Glen, Dave and I set off down the road to Iowa. (See photo of my bike riding on the bed in style) Oh the good times we had on our way . . . confusing some poor store clerk when we each
paid $8 for gas but not in a organized fashion and I suppose me video taping the whole thing just added to her sense that we were all crazy. Then there was the parking and reparking of the RV so that it was angled just perfectly to avoid the wind and maximize our space. And then there were the never ending jokes about the shopping mall (the women's winners were getting mall gift certificates cause you know women prefer shopping).When we arrived at the race I was horrified and dismayed to see long straight away followed by long straight away followed by long straight away. Before my knee surgery I would say that long straight aways were not my thing but the loss in leg strength after the surgery has only exacerbated the problem. I dread races that are for the "power" riders. I knew it was going to seem like a long race.
There were 15 women in the race and my goal was to not be last which I knew would be a challenge on this course. As always though I rocketed off from the start and was around 6th place for awhile. I might be slow in the end but I am a fast starter. Unfortunatley once we hit the long straight away in the wind I started slipping back. I really do try to hold people's wheels but I just can't.
Anyway, there was also this muddy creek section that had two dismounts to run down one side of the bank and then back up the other. I would have enjoyed that a bit more if I had two spikes in my shoes and if the tread on my shoes wasn't worn down to almost nothing. I know that I need new shoes but I didn't want to break in new shoes and cleats during cross season. I wanted the predicatability of my old shoes. The up side to this section is that a lot of people would fiddle around on the last remount trying to clip back into their pedals and I would just get back on and pedal whether I clipped in or not. Eventually you'd clip in but I guess some people just don't feel comfortable riding on the top of their pedals.
There was also this uphill to downhill chicane that then lead to a 180 degree turn into uphill barriers. People were doing some crazy stuff there. You needed to swing your leg over as you coasted down the hill and then get off right before the corner. In my race the women were doing all kinds of crazy maneuvers there that made no sense to me. Hopefully no one stole my secret move so I can use it on them again next year when I will hopefully be faster.
On one lap I was riding with this woman on a mountain bike and she passed me right before the windy straight away. It seemed weird to me but I was psyched since I was so slow in that section. I had this sweet draft and she wasn't even trying to get me to pull through. At one point someone was cheering for us and yelling to work together. I figured that was maybe a good point so I decided to pull through for awhile and then maybe we could catch some of the gals in front of us. She wouldn't have it though. As I pulled out to pass her she sped up so I got back in her draft. I decided to give it one more try but same thing happened so I just gave up and let her pull the whole way through the wind.
Of course, once we were out of the wind I pulled ahead and not much later I had a gap on her which just keep growing. I hope everyone doesn't think I'm just a "wheel-sucker" as I would have worked with her to try and catch the women in front of me. It was nice of her to give me a little rest through the section I was the worst at though. Unfortunatley it was a hugely flawed plan on her part. Oh well. I might be slow but I try to race smart as much as possible to compensate. If I knew her I undoubtedly would have told her at the end of the race about the mistake and instructed her on the finer points of drafting in the wind but I don't know her so she'll have to read this blog to know.
In the end it didn't turn out as badly as I thought it might. I ended up 12th out of 15 and I didn't get lapped. I don't think I was even that close to being lapped as I couldn't see Linda who won when I was looking back to see where the women behind me were. Given the course that was a big success.
Did I mention how awesome everyone else I know did??? Dave won his first cross race prize ever with 5th in the 40+ (and if he could sprint he might have gotten 2nd). Glenn got 1st in the 50+ and Michele was 7th in the Women's race. In the 30+ John was 4th and Mark was 2nd. Thomson won the Junior race and then jumped on his singlespeed and raced that race too. In the A Men's race Jim was 5th, Kurt rocked his comeback with 8th, Chris was 14th, Mark was 15th, Paul was 23rd and John was 24th. Plus Paul and John were crowd favorites as they were the only ones riding the second muddy creek crossing . . . not even Tilford was pulling that move. Too bad Matt was sick and didn't go as he would have been riding it for sure and making Tilford suffer.
One last thing - I do have to mention something that really bothered me about the race . . . the women were racing for $500 in gift certificates while the A men were racing for $1995 in cash. That's a little insulting. And the top women's gift certificate was only $125 while the top man got $800. Do they think 30 men would have shown up to race for $125? Well, 15 women did and I think we deserve better. I think it belittles the time, money and effort that women spend on racing. I guess it would be better for me to email the race promoter though than complain on my blog. Those mall gift certificates did make for great jokes all day long.
posted by MadCross at 12:42 PM
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