2010 KC Cup Cyclocross race

I have always been pretty wary of races that are this early in the season. Namely because there are too many roadies with huge motors that try to throw themselves under your wheel, then make up time on the straight aways. Couple this with the fact that this course was 50% singletrack and you have a recipe for some serious rage....and heat and humidity. I was stoked.

I rolled to the line in next to last place with a huge hill climb to start the race before we got into some gratuitous 180 degree turns. The first lap I don't think my HR got over 155 as I watched the lead group ride off while I jockeyed through traffic.
I had one minor incident that came from my failure to communicate with someone that I was trying to over take. I got into his back wheel, and apologized about rubbing his tires. Then I hear Chris Locke shout "Rubbing is Racing". That just about cracked me up. Then I started to slowly move forward, unaware of my position, but feeling good that I was able to bury myself on the 500 yard road section, and then just flow through the singletrack. One disconcerting thing though was that I could feel my front wheel rocking in the fork. I could see the skewer cam was not moving, but it was a little unnerving.

There was one barrier section that consisted of 2x6's that was rideable but on my preride I went over the handlebars on the third barrier so I elected to run the barriers through most of the race. With a lap and a half to go I could see a SKC racer (I think it was Joel Terry?) up ahead. I realized that I had been putting time into people the entire day, so I went to the big ring for the last road section to bridge up and make the pass as we went back into the grass. I had seen the SKC rider clear all the barriers without dismounting and I knew that he was going to come around if I dismounted and tried to run it.

As my race progressed I felt more and more comfortable clearing the logs while in my drops, so as I rolled into the barriers I figured I might as well leave it all out there. The first two barriers were smooth and fluid, but I banged my back wheel pretty good on the third. No style points. Then it was time to motor. I was really leaning through the 180's before we hit the woods, and I managed to open a bit of a gap. Focus on fluidity. Pop out of the single track, look about and see no one, roll across the line. Good enough for 4th place. Brad Sullivan emerged from retirement to take the Win in the 3's. It was really good to see Brad back out there.

i really liked how the course was laid out and how they made use of the terrain. It definitely kept the race tighter than it would have been of it was a wide open course. I liked the smaller barriers and the 10" log crossings in the singletrack sections. Probably made for some good wipeout pics though.
Keith Walberg (of Zero Traction fame) has some sweet footage

KC Cup Cyclocross, 2010 from Keith Walberg on Vimeo.

It take a while to load but it is very high quality and well edited.
Thanks to MOD for putting together all the Wed nite CX practices, I felt like I had a leg up on alot of other riders this early in the season.