Palos Meltdown, Beginner. I'm absurdly early but it's a good thing because the last 18 spots were gone 15 minutes before registration opened. Everybody's got front suspension mountain bikes. I've got a single speed 'cross bike. And a road kit. And stubble on my legs. Yeah, I'm that guy. 'sup?
A handful of other 'cross racers show up, mostly from Half Acre. Whew, at least I won't be the only goofball out here.
Race bell + 1 minute: in first place.
+ 2 minutes: off with a gap.
+ 4 minutes: off course.
I was operating under the instructions at the start: "At every intersection, there will be a marshal pointing the right way to go." Turns out I was on a fast dirt road trailing off to the right, with a not-very-clearly-marked entry to the woods on the left. No caution tape across the natural line, nothing. Whatever.
Grrr. At least my teammate Max took the win, introducing the full-suspension crowd to our little friend Eddy Merckx. We had a sneaking suspicion we were sandbagging, but standing around at the finish, seeing 8 year olds coming in DFL...um, that pretty much confirmed it. (In our defense, it was his first mountain bike race, and my 3rd, with the first two being in 1995.) The top 5 spots were 'cross racers, and half the race was plain old dirt road giving us a significant advantage...but anyway. It was a race; consider it reported.
Interesting notes:
1. Mountain bike races and their crowds are still a million times cooler than road races. At the start line, guys were like "Hey, howya doin? Nice bike!" - except for a few spandex crossovers bringing the roadie ice. Free PB&Js at the start/finish? Rock on! It seemed like there was a raffle prize for every two racers at the finish. I won a saddlebag. Presumably to hold my sand next time.
2. Trophies! (AND an age group medal) Holy crap, can you imagine getting a trophy two feet tall for winning a Cat 5 road race? Awesome! I plan on gazing at my trophy longingly for many years to come...on the mantle at Max's house.
3. I would have loved to hit Sport (225 racers...uh, wtf? though they seemed to stagger it out well by age) or better yet, Expert, at 32 miles for a killer pre-'cross training circuit. I suspect my head tube would've split asunder in a real 2-hour technical mtb race though.
Unfortunately, even the promise of a life-sized trophy won't be enough to get me in a beginner's race again. I'd have to crawl under a rock if I did that. Maybe I'll see how the bike holds up in Sport class...though I suspect in Wisco, it's a whole different game.
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