For a lot of people the June long weekend is a time to kick
back, relax and enjoy the last long weekend until October. For us it was a time
of heart pounding excitement as we both took part in a racing filled weekend.
What type of racing would tempt us out in the cold winter air? Cyclocross
racing, the most fun you can have on two wheels!
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| Super Coach chasing down his foes |
I’m probably a bit biased, but if it wasn’t for cyclocross I
doubt I’d have ever tried other forms of racing. For those of you unacquainted
with this sport, I’d suggest having a look on youtube for some videos, but if I
had to describe it, it’s like letting a bunch of hyped up 10 year olds race
bikes on a course of their dreams. No offense intended to Super Coach (Neil
Ross) who designed the courses, but racing cyclocross is just so much fun that
it makes me feel like a kid! Then of course they make me race for 45 minutes
and I feel every bit my age and then some!
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| Gemma - it's all her fault! |
So, why defending number 19? Well last year was the first
time Australia
had a national cyclocross competition and some well meaning soul (I’m looking
at you Gemma) talked me into having a crack. Making up the numbers so to speak
and trying out my new (to me) CX bike. So I had a crack, got lapped after three
laps and got pulled and had a nice chat with a few other ladies while we waited
for the race to finish. Did it again the next day and what do you know, I have
a national ranking! I was number 19 women in CX in Australia in 2012.
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| My number seemed appropriate |
With that in mind, it didn’t take much persuading to get me
to participate this year and so I lined up this past weekend for two days of
racing. However, a couple of things had changed from the previous year.
Firstly, the word had gotten out – CX was awesome! Which meant there was a bit
more competition (translation – I get less points for coming last). Also,
someone had changed the rules on me and instead of getting pulled when I got
lapped, I was going to have to race the full 45 minutes! To put this in
perspective, I usually race C grade and we go for about 20 minutes before we
all agree to fall down in a heap. 45 minutes was going to be tough!
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| Speeding down the straights |
Day 1 was at Mulch Hill, and as much as that terrified me
when I first rode it, it’s now a course I love. It had some lovely straights, a
little sand, some evil loose dirt and the big pile of mulch (Mulch Hill). I was
trying to be sensible so I actually did about a 10km warm up on the course,
which almost resulted in me missing the start. A very flustered marshal herded
me over with the rest of the ladies and we were ready to start.
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| Lee-Anne's technical savvy |
Thankfully I was starting at the back which meant I didn’t
have everyone flying past me and crowding me. I’m not a good bike handler at
the best of times and I get a little nervous when I’ve got experts rushing past
me. Surprisingly I found myself flying along and it wasn’t long before I was
hot on the tail of another PACC chick! Lee-Anne and I had raced together a bit
before and I knew we were about the same in overall ability so I tried hard to
hang onto her. However her technical savvy and a dirt dive around a tree soon
left me in her wake. A fall is always hard to come back from, even if it is
only minor and I soon found myself off the back.
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| See - recovery! |
I dialled it back a bit to try and recover as the leaders
flew past me, lapping me on my third lap of the course I think. I obviously
hadn’t recovered what little technical skills I possessed, as when I went
through the evil loose dirt tree section (basically trying to go round a tree
when someone has dug up all the dirt) I managed to collect some of the course
tape with my bike. Apparently that stuff only has so much stretch and by the
time I noticed that it was attached, it snapped. Being a responsible individual
I did try yelling at people that there was now a hazard on the course, however
given the heavy breathing at the time, I can’t blame them if they were a little
confused!
Eventually I came up on what I hoped was my last lap, having
ridden a good 45 minutes, however unbeknownst to me the leaders were on my
tail, about to lap me for a second time. Unfortunately for me, they didn’t and I
had to ride a lonely last lap (and tell off some elite men who thought it was
practice time already) to finish with a time of 56 minutes and 53 seconds
(according to my garmin). And I was complaining about 45 minutes!
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| The stairs were hard work |
The rest of the day was spent consuming everything I could
lay my hands on, including the last vegie velo burger of the day (thanks Manu!)
and watching the elite men race. I had intended to get some pictures but I was
buggered, and could only watch in amazement as they bunny hopped the barriers
time and time again. I was also entertained by the costumed antics of the
spectators on Mulch Hill and was doubly impressed when I realised quite a
number of them were women I had just raced against.
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| I survived! |
We hung around to help with the pack up and I have to take
my hat off to the people who set up and pack up these events. There was a lot
of tape and stakes, all designed to keep us (and the stray pedestrian)
relatively safe and possibly even not lost! It makes for a long day and we were
well and truly worn out when we finally reached home. Many thanks to CLP who
kindly volunteered to give my bike the once over and a bit of a wash.
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| Gemma at her best |
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| Another PACC lady working hard |
Kudos!
ReplyDeleteDon't blame me! ;-)
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