Chagrin River Cyclocross Day 1

During the practice session on the 21st, when the course was dry, it was fast and a lot of fun to ride. I had my fingers crossed during the week leading up to Halloween that the rain blowing up from the south would miss us. But, this morning, I woke up to rain and water running down the driveway, so I knew the Chagrin River Cyclocross Challenge was going to be challenging.

The grass section of the course was pretty firm, but the woods and the singletrack section of the course were muddy and slick. Mud is not my element, so I was going to be happy with just finishing, and hopefully racing at least one or two people during the day.

Chris and I lined up in the second row, and I had a pretty good start. I was firmly in the field from the start through the pine trees. That's where the carnage started. Someone got loose through the mulch pile, and fishtailed into a tree. Ouch! But he made a great recovery and continued on. I moved up a little bit up through the driveway section. I pushed it hard around the corner to the muddy uphill when my rear wheel washed out, and I went down. No damage to me or the bike. I was back up to speed in a few seconds, but managed to lose it again on an off camber muddy turn. That one hurt a little, and I dropped the chain.

I had been looking forward to the woods section, with the whoop-de-doos and the ditch crossing, but wasn't getting a whole lot of traction, so I wasn't flying through. But it was still challenging, just to stay upright and keep moving ahead. I planned to ride the ditch crossing, but it was total chaos when I got there. Three riders had crashed, so I ran past the bodies, then did the old-man-running-with a walker routine through the mud until I could hop on the bike and pedal.

The singletrack section was pretty tough. If I cranked too hard, the back wheel broke away and I'd get turned sideways, so I had to go slow enough to just keep moving. You'd think that would be a good time to rest and recover, but that section kept me in the red just like all the others.

Finally, I was out of the woods and on the grass and ready for another lap.

I kept it up for the remainder of the race. I was hoping not to get lapped, but Robert flew past through the woods. He looked to be having a great day. I expected to be passed by some more riders at any moment, but it was a long time until the next rider caught me. That's not because I was going fast, but because Robert had a really good gap on the next rider in the field.

I was relieved to finish. It had been a tough day for everyone. I'd hoped to do a little better in the technical sections, but I'm lacking the mud riding skills. Hopefully, with the wind kicking up tonight and the humidity dropping, the course will be a little firmer tomorrow. I hope one of the remaining races is either dry, or all ice.

Brett and his crew did a great job with the course and made it a fun day with a really great holiday atmosphere.  Thanks!

Here is a link to some snapshots I took during the A Race. A few of them came out pretty well. Feel free to copy and use them as you like.