Holy Spokecicles!

Who needs Red Spoke Rovals when you've got Icicle style?

The final day of racing in this year's Cross The Way cyclocross series went down today in what was a perfect send off provided by Mother Nature:  10+ hours of rain followed by falling temps and finally snow.

The Cat 4s went off first at 10 am in the balmy 36 degree temps. The wind was nipping and biting out on the Lock 4 peninsula, but it wasn't too horrid. Yet. I didn't get to see the course yesterday nor get a chance to pre-ride it today. I stood near the pavilion to snap some start photos then JD and I made our way up to the top of the peninsula to watch the rest of the course. What I saw out on the peninsula stopped me in my tracks. I was greeted with a string of riders looking like they were knitting and pearling! It was like staring at a living M.C. Escher painting. Perhaps pre-riding would have been a good idea. Meh.

The Monster is Back!

Why do you call him Tony "The Untouchable" Adair? 

Cuz you can't touch him, Avi. 

The Mongoose gettin' Muddy. Yup, believe it. 

Rapha wearing, tea and cookie eating Parker "Nancy" Gates

Mongoose chasing the Monster.

As the Cat 4 race went on, the snow started to fall along with the temps.

photo by Wolfgang Gander

By the time the CX3 race happened, it was getting straight up cold. The wind was picking up, the snow falling more earnestly, and the temps plummeted. By the time the SS race started, the temp was 26 - a full 10 degrees colder within 2 hours!

photo by Wolfgang Gander

Due to not knowing the course, I hesitated and got a bad start in the CX3 race and was tied up in early Escher traffic. After a few frustratingly unsuccessful attempts, I finally managed to squeak around a few corner blockers and made my way back to the front of the race. As I entered "the turn" (ie the one where everyone else in the earlier races had been falling) I picked a straight inside line while Ed (who was just ahead of me) rode and took an outside line. He realized his poor choice and went to correct his line. I let him know I was inside and continued on my line, feeling like I cut him off. That's racing, but I felt pretty badly and apologized a few times across the barrier tape as we wound around the course, but he just yelled at me to go faster.

I managed to fight my way up and hold onto 3rd place, which was much better than any of my other cx races of late. I really enjoyed the course and had a lot of fun, which I think aided in my success. I also love bad weather racing, makes it feel more intense and adds a bit of unpredictability to it all. Plus I was dressed perfectly, I never got hot, but never got cold either. Finally I'm starting to figure out the wardrobe.

This was frozen in during the ss race, no wonder it wouldn't seat into the pedal. 

The SS race started and I tried for the hole shot, but a few pedal strokes into the start my left foot slipped and I came down hard on my top tube with my thigh. I couldn't get my left cleat to clip in, so I balanced my shoe on the pedal and tried to get back into the race. I kept futzing with the shoe and pedal whilst racing and somewhere in the first set of Escher turns it clipped in. Just past "the turn" I finally got around Jimmy and Jeremy who were sitting first and second just in time for my cleat to accidentally unclip in a slick muddy left hand turn and I was back to precariously balancing the shoe on the slick pedal. Seconds later Jeremy and Jimmy swarmed around me and passed me as if I were sitting still. Damn. 

I finally got the cleat to go back in and I powered on as best I could, passing Jimmy through the barriers (had to unclip again) and getting back in the groove. I was making gains on Jeremy until the line, but he was able to hold me off. It was a fun race. The snow, the mud, the course, the competitors, and all the great hecklers in the crowd made it one hell of a series send off. I'm already longing for the 2011 series.