State 'Cross Championship and Gem Show

By F. Joe Hamilton
November 18, 2007

BREMERTON, WA- The voyage to this week's race included a scenic ferry ride where some active whales were making a scene for spectators on shore. Being new to the Seattle area I was curious but couldn't make out anything but slight ripples in the water surface. Not much excitement, I thought. I guess it shows that I've spent my whole life land locked! However, the "awesome" whale action didn't deter me from heading to the Kitsap County Fairgrounds outside Bremerton for the State Cyclocross Championships. As I pulled into the gates I noticed the pavilion was also hosting a gem show, so I was hard pressed to decide which event to attend. Gems or 'cross? Hmmmm...

This week's course started on a section of gravel road that ran into a hairpin 180 degree left-hander and then around a fenced horse area. Once past, it was a short and steep paved switchback and through the center of a horse barn. Once through it was into greasy left-hand corner and back onto some pavement for a few zig-zags around some buildings. That brought about the first encounter with a double set of barriers. Safely over it was a few turns and down onto some singletrack and through a wooded area that included some tricky cornering and a short, steep, and sandy little climb. A couple of quick, wet turns and it was down onto the infield where it started. There were two sections of really soft and spongy ground and another set of double barriers. Then it was on through the finish for another lap.

This week's field was noticeably smaller than the previous weeks. Where the heck was everybody? Has everyone hung the bike up for the season? It was really disappointing, especially having raced Cross Crusade #6 down in Portland last weekend and starting in a field of 89 riders! Still, the talent was there and no one was going to make this easy for anyone else.

At the gun I was second into the first corner. I was on the wheel of local loudmouth Craig "She's Gonna Be Hot in a Few Years" Fowler who took the holeshot. The two of us opened a small gap on the field almost immediately. I was stoked to be in a great position and instantly started planning how I was going to take him over. I should have been paying more attention to the course! On one of the more difficult corners back in the woods I slipped up and had to step out of my pedals, and like a food in front of Oprah, Fowler was instantly gone! I scrambled to get my composure back but it was too late. I couldn't regain the lost ground and by the end of the first lap I was caught by a hard-charging group of four that included some riders I knew to be strong. It's over just like that in 'cross.

The rest of my race was trying to hold on as the group splintered from the constant attacks. I just couldn't muster up the strength to really make a go of it and had to settle for table scraps and hope someone would get tired or make a mistake. In the end, I was able to make it around only one rider by the finish lap and had problems with the same damn corner as in the first lap on one other occasion. My foot right foot also kept coming out of my pedals more often than I needed it to. In fact, The only time I needed it to unclip was for the barriers so it was sort of a shock to have it come undone willy-nilly. It may be time to retire those pedals! They've cost me time in two races in a row now. Last week I slipped out of both of them at the start! To the dumpster with 'em.

By the end of the race and many, many trips through the soggy mud holes, I crossed the line in fifth place. Not champagne spraying great, but respectable. As usual, the "why didn't I put in that last good effort" thought popped into my head and I spent a portion of the drive/ferry ride home contemplating on where and when I should've/could've done so. Eh, there's always next week. Speaking of such, we head back down to South SeaTac next week for the third time this year and take on the Sarlacc Pit once again. Han..? Chewie..? Is that you? Maybe I'll bust out that Sasquatch costume the rest of the crew has been bugging me to wear.

Warm Fudge Brownies!

And Other Tasty Excuses for Not Winning...

By F. Joe Hamilton
Photos by NO ONE
November 5, 2007

AUBURN, WA- This week's article comes after a bit of a hiatus; I apologize. I really have no good excuse either, but let's blame Dick Cheney just for the sake of argument. I was working solo this week down at Donida Farm south of Auburn, WA for race number five of the Seattle Cyclocross Series. The Ex-Milk Scientist was drinking Mai Tais on a Hawaiian beach, and the rest of the BNW crew had other obligations, or was just plain lazy (Are you calling spending all of Saturday laying on the couch drinking Mojitos through a bendy straw and eating popcorn shrimp while watch reruns of Friends, lazy? -Ed.). So there I was, in the middle of the hornet's nest ...

The course set up this week was great. It began on the south side of an oval horse racing track and wound around to a sharp left-hand corner. A few short turns later and the course headed into the woods for a freshly cut stretch that included two soft pits of mud. Once clear of the woods, it was on to the single barrier that was placed near a small ditch that made for an extended bike carry. The remount was on a gravel road, then a few twists and it was onto the bone-jarring rough grass sections. This led to the short steep climb that was longer than it appeared. Shortly after was the run-up and a hard right-hander and down to the start area for another lap of mayhem.

On a few hot laps before the start I was having some difficulty dialing in tire pressure. The course was primarily dry, which meant that a higher tire pressure could be run. However, the rough sections and the new portions in the woods, which were somewhat greasy, pointed toward a lower pressure. What to do, what to do? I couldn't make up my mind and finally opted for a slightly higher pressure in favor of the ability to keep speed on the dry sections.

I also should mention I made a foray down to the Capitol State Forest for some great mountain bike riding last Saturday, the day before the race. I usually don't ride before a race but I couldn't refuse the offer. And it also gave me a chance to ride my beloved single-speed 29er one more time this year. I was a bit concerned about my legs, but I didn't ride hard at all so what harm was there?

Meanwhile back at the race: this week I had one hell of a good start. I lined up in the second row and there was no one standing in front of me. At the whistle I put the hammer down and headed into the first corner in fourth place. I flew though the first half a lap and it felt great! I was motoring along nicely and then it became apparent that my legs weren't going to have the juice. They felt like bricks and I knew right away that I wasn't going to be able to hold the pace of the front runners. Damn. I pushed and pushed but they wouldn't put out any more watts. I was screwed!

Besides my seized legs, I was also having some difficulty navigating the two soft stretches back in the woods. Riding through them was like trying to swim though warm fudge brownies. Mmmmm ... warm fudge brownies. I just couldn't make it through efficiently. Every line I tried was the same result: complete robbery of my momentum while other riders scooted on through. Was it my legs? Or was it my tire pressure? Or was it something else?

I spent the remainder of the race lugging my bike around the course and trying to close a gap on Craig Fowler (Alki-Rubicon) who I eventually was able to pass on the last lap. This is a point of contention as he caught me on the final straight only to beat me by a tire width! That, I assure you, will never happen again. Ya hear that Fowler!? Seriously though, it made the race really fun.

Despite my poor legs not having the rest they needed, the race was good. I hit some of the long straights harder than I have ever been able to. I also made a cakewalk of the steep climb and was able to make up time on people there. And the run-up was a breeze. It's really amazing how strong you get by incorporating some good running drills into the week's workouts. I finished in twelfth place and will probably move up a spot on the overall standings. Not bad, I guess.

Next week I'll be heading down to Portland, OR with the rest of the BNW crew for the Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships and Cross Crusade race number six. Tune in next week for complete coverage! (Actually, we're busy next weekend. There's a Will and Grace marathon on Lifetime Television that we're dying to watch with a tub of Goobers and a box of wine. -Ed.)

Crosstoberfest Surprise

A Healthy Helping is Served

By F. J. Hamilton
Photo By Nick Barille (ex-milk scientist)

This week's race report comes from Crosstoberfest, held at St. Edward's Park in Kenmore and put on by the Ragnarok/Second Ascent crew. The course was simply kick-ass, with lots of tight turns, a sand section, and a bit of wet singltrack. The day also included plenty o' fun with a beer-a-lap relay race after the Men's 1/2 field finished. Beer, 'cross, wacky costumes, and a little misty rain; what could be better?

The course was fairly technical. It hosted a triple set of barriers, a single log barrier, two short trips through a sand pit, a series of super-tight turns around some pine trees, and a tight 180 degree left hand turn into the run-up that included a single barrier. This was encased in a neat package of about 30 percent singletrack and the rest open grass and pavement.

With an uphill start I wasn't too eager to blow up at the get-go. I played it cool and squeezed into 16th place. I played follow the leader through most of the singletrack and when I got out I would pass people left and right. I got stuck behind a few slower riders and made it a point to get ahead of people before the singletrack sections. The wet singletrack was surprisingly tacky and I was able to fly through it each time.

My race was purely tactical. I would patiently wait my turn and let people know I was behind them. I would put my front wheel on the inside of corners and just kept the pressure on people until I could get around them. By the last lap I had managed to bridge from 16th place up to the group of three leading the race! I was sort of shocked but I remained calm, this was my race to win or lose. At the beginning of the lap I attacked and that was it. We hit the singletrack and I gapped the three riders without looking back. I rolled across the line numero uno and it felt damn good! A healthy dose of Crosstoberfest Surprise was served.

I learned a great deal during this race, especially about staying calm and not letting the excitement get to me. I chose to keep my head in the game and continued to strategize through out the entire race. I also managed to pull some great skills from my back in my BMX days on the singletrack and really use it to my advantage. My legs felt good and my bike was again absolutely superb. There's something to be said for the Surly Cross-Check (you can keep your carbon fiber!). And after it was all said and done I topped off the day with a few Fat Tire Ales. Mmmmmm... Beer!

Opinion Column: Viva Suck Vegas

Vegas is a hole worthy of its own garbage

By F. Joe Hamilton
September 30, 2007

A bout of the flu has me under the weather lately and unable to race. This probably has something to do with attending the annual Interbike Expo held in the armpit of the country, Las Vegas. Each and every year thousands attend the trade show clogging the floor in order to view the latest carbon fiber gadget, fill their trendy commuter bags with schwag, and talk shop with others who also love everything bicycle. In that respect the show is great. However, once you leave the expo area and are subject to the sensory overload that is the Las Vegas strip it begs a profound question- what's the deal with holding Interbike in Vegas anyway? It's hot, it's dry, it has a very peculiar smell of cheap cologne, and the air is clogged with stripper glitter dust.

It really encompasses everything I loathe about this country; crass and intrusive commercialism, promotion of over-consumption, fake nostalgia and contrived authenticity, and hostile guerilla marketing. It's a very, very decadent and atavistic place. I wonder why on earth anyone would want to take their family to vacation there? It's very much the antithesis of most cycling culture. So why is the biggest cycling trade show held there?

It's not a place that relates to cycling in any way. It has no history with the sport, it's not a commuter friendly city, and who ever heard of anything cycling-related besides Interbike coming from Vegas? This is why I find it so odd that Interbike is held there each year.

Cycling does not encompass the over-the-top lifestyle of Vegas. For instance, cycling is often equated with eco-friendly, environmentally conscious, down to earth people who seek to minimize their energy expenditures. This is the polar opposite of Las Vegas lifestyle. The whole idea of Vegas is to signal how big expenditures are no problem at all. The amount of energy it takes to power just one of the multi-million dollar casinos, with all its esoteric lighting, surveillance, and electronics, equates to pumping 160 million tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. Breathe deep, my friend!

And let's not get into how many of our waterways are dammed up to provide all the power to Vegas. How many casinos are on the strip alone? I shudder. Guess what? A bike produces zero emissions. Vegas also has one heck of a garbage problem, primarily in the forms of soda and fast food containers, porn advertisements, cigarette butts, broken beer bottle glass, and I'll just stop there. I don't know about you, but I really hate riding over glass. Garbage comes in a close second too.

The blatant over-use of water is another point I'd like to make. Seriously, PALM TREES DON'T GROW IN THE DESERT! Sorry to burst your bubble on that one, but ever heard of Zeroscaping?? It's where you take native plants, desert species in this case, and plant them across your yard and fill in the rest with rock and such. It needs no maintenance, it needs very little water, and it looks somewhat natural. Grass does not look natural in the desert. Neither do palm trees. However, I recently read an article where homeowners in certain parts of Vegas are getting two dollars for every square foot of grass they rip up and replace with something less water dependent. It's a good start, now how about ripping the whole city up.

And let us not forget the problem of slogging from casino to casino. I mean, actually having to walk places! Every square inch of Vegas is paved so fat, lazy, and poorly dressed Americans "living the American Dream" (god bless The Good Doctor!) have some place to walk to the next buffet and spend their next nickel. There's even enough escalators and motorized walk-ways that, if your lucky, you won't have to walk far. How does this encompass the values of cycling? Getting out on your bike and using your body for what it was intended for, namely exercise, is not the mantra of Vegas. In fact, most casinos, like Wal-Marts, have just about everything you need under one roof and seek to do everything in their power to keep you from enjoying the outdoors. Why waste that precious energy that can be saved for mass consumption of fatty foods and bad beer? Bicycling is free and, get this, it actually improves your health. Your body is about as fuel efficient as it comes; a glucose burning, highly economical engine capable of amazing things. And, you don't need no stinking pavement to ride a bike either!

Vegas is also about as intrusive of a place as you can get. Everywhere you look there's advertising, lights, buzzers, that incessant ding-ding-dinging, and let's not leave out the gaudy and depraved people crowding you in everywhere you go like cattle. Cycling, on the other hand, is totally liberating. Whether your competing, touring, or just getting out for a weekend ride it's an absolute pleasure to be on your bike. Your senses are awakened by the moving of the blood, not paralyzed by the recycled air and bombardment of sounds. Cycling gives, Vegas only takes.

And finally, to bring this rant to a close, I'd like to bring up one more point. Why is this place considered a crown jewel of human achievement? Why do people go out of their way to visit Las Vegas? I've often thought that nothing humankind has, or will ever construct compares to the pristine landscape of a mountain range or canyon country, or any environment that has been millennia in the making; Period. Las Vegas has absolutely nothing on the awe and beauty of the Rockies or the deeply incised canyons of eastern Utah. However, that is slowly being changed each and every day. With the sweeping hand of annihilation, in comes the two-legged, gas-guzzling rat to erase nature's work in an instant in order to bring us Circus Circus and three dollar bottled water. Way to go humanity. By the way, its just tap water you fool!

I guess my point to all this is that Vegas is a pit, don't go there without a reason, move the show to some place that's at the very least cycling friendly, and fer feck's sake, get out and ride!

A Dirty Day for F. J.

By F. Joe Hamilton
Photos by Scott Richardson
September 17th, 2007

I awoke Sunday to the soothing sound of raindrops hitting the trees outside our window. On an ordinary day I would be reluctant to roll out of bed, but the day had finally arrived to race in the rain! I was hopeful that it would continue to rain through my 1:30pm start time for the Cat 3 men's field. The BNW crew made an event out of this week's race and all piled into The "Rainier Bus" and pointed it toward South Sea-Tac for Copper Cross. The rain subsided into intermittent sprinkles as we got closer to the event, but as soon as we set up our canopy the sprinkles turned more constant. My enthusiasm was mounting!! It was going to get dirty! Some of my most memorable races (and rides) have been in the absolute worst condiditons. At Star Crossed two years ago I got hailed on in my race. I'll never forget it. And there's a race held in early April each year in Missoula that's appropriately called the Rocky Mountain Roubaix. It's covers 80% wet, sloppy gravel roads. I love it. SO needless to say, with the rain falling I was anxious to see what the course had in store for me this week.

The course was again mostly singletrack with a small section of pavement and some wide grassy stretches that featured the only barrier and the finish line. Despite the absence of a double barrier this week the AVA/Counterbalance crew devised a devilishily potent and lengthly obstacle. Near the beginning of each lap there was a series of short, loose, and sandy climbs that made me long for the relative ease of riding through the Sarlacc Pit. The first, which was also part of the Labor Day Cross Championship course, was almost rideable. I should clarify- out of the six laps the Cat 3 men did I managed to make it clear twice. Barely. From there it was a right-hand switchback and on down a short descent to another hard right-hander that set up the second climb.

This climb was not rideable. At the top was another switchback and yet another sandy descent. This was all a prelude for the day's feature obstacle- a run-up that was so steep near the top that it was like climbing a ladder. Add the weight of a bike across the shoulders and it made hauling bundles of shingles to the top of the Vatican seem easy (yes, I am aware that the Vatican does not have a shingled roof). The rest of the course featured some washboarded approaches to many, many, tight and loosely packed corners, which is what South Sea-Tac is famous for.

I arrived at the starting line just late enough to barely squeeze into the middle of the pack. I thank the riders who only subtly told me to get to the back. I'll return the favor some day, minus the comments. At the gun I was at the tail end of a line of five or so riders. We hit the sand and bottlenecked. I got caught behind two tangled riders but managed to get off my bike and run the entire section. I swear, it felt like it was a mile long.

After the madness, I remounted, out of breath and hit the singletrack. I was on a rider's wheel, biding my time, when he went wide in a turn and nearly treed himself. I pulled my brakes but nothing happened! They were full of wet sand and I came to a stop with my front wheel hooked around his rear derailleur. I deftly unhooked my wheel and was on my way again. By this time I had also been passed by a few riders. The rest of my race was trying to make up ground and hold my position. I couldn't push myself as hard as I was capable of due to the sandy condiditons. I also got held up by a few other riders that I had to get around in the singletrack. Overall, I was only passed by one other rider in the remianing laps and managed to roll across the line covered in wet sand, and in ninth place.

I was hoping to do a top ten finish this week and I did. But barely. It's all about the start in 'cross. After the first lap the field is usually spread out and relative positions are taking shape. Outside of a mechanical or a crash you can pretty much count on finishing in the place you ended the first lap in. I may be making this too simplistic, but after a few years of cyclocross racing and watching veterans take to the field, this is generally more the case than not. The hole shot wins - or at least keeps you out of trouble - in 'cross. Period.

Some good news about this week was that I didn't have any cleat problmes that have plagued me in the last few races. I also didn't have any problems remounting and clipping in. The race was a great success from my point of view. We had a great time, I met my goal and improved on some technique. We'll see where this improvement gets me this week at Star Crossed. I'll settle for rain this year, the hail was a bit much!

See you under the lights!
F.J.H.

Paydirt at 542 Cross in B-Ham

By F. Joe Hamilton
September 11th, 2007

If there's one thing I like about Bellingham, it's the city's proximity to the Cascades. A short jaunt and you're out of the rat cage and into the open wilderness. This past weekend, BNW's Editor-on-the-Lamb and I set our sights on Silver Lake for 542 Cross - the first of the Bellingham Cyclo-crazed series. It was a marvelous day, sunny, no wind, and a bit of morning dew on the grass that made for a comfortable day in the saddle. The course setting was in a narrow valley that made me homesick for the northern Rockies back in Missoula. The course itself was located at a state park that contained a bunch of old logging paraphanalia. It was also a short, relatively flat and open course that made its way around a hay field. There was no run-up this week, but plenty of barriers.

From the start the course headed west on the gravel entrance road and took a hard right around one of the park's many intepretive signs marking the historic advent of logging in the area. The first barrier was immediately after this and was followed by some zig-zagging around a bank of several more historically informative signs. A hard ninety degree left-hand corner followed those, and next was a series of barriers. First a log, then two barriers placed in a u-shaped corner nestled in an old saw mill structure. After that excitement, it was all legs and lungs around a sweeping right hand corner and down a long back stretch. A right-hander followed that and veered onto -and then off of- a smooth gravel road. Following that was a double barrier made of bails of hay that was reminiscent of something the Duke Boys would have jumped the General Lee over back in '82, and then it was the soul-crushing, uber-long, half-mile double-track back to the start/finish.

As for my race, it went better than last week by a long shot. From the gun I grabbed the wheel of a lead rider and was sucked into a group of three early in the first lap. I made it through the short technical section without a problem and headed down the long back stretch which opened up the lungs a bit. By this time the four of us must have opened a small gap. As we hit the gravel road I was sitting in and eager but remained calm up to the point of the infamous double hay-bail barriers. I smoothly dismounted and like a gazelle, hopped the bails, and was back on my bike. As I did this I took the lead and managed to slip off the front of the group as we headed down the uber-long home stretch toward the start/finish. A miracle had just happened, I was off the front!

I immediately started riding my own race, keeping my heart rate up as high as I could, working on getting over the obstacles as smoothly as possible. I concentrated on pushing it through the long flat sections. There were two spots that were false-flats that took their toll on my legs, but I continued to push through them. At it's peak I had about twenty seconds on the second place rider. I tried to remain calm, but there was a panic when I again had cleat issuse on the sixth of seven laps.

My left foot failed to release from my pedal causing me to stumble over the barrier. I made it over in one piece but my damn chain fell off. That's two weeks in a row! I remounted and by the beard of Zeus I was able to get the chain back on as I coasted. My gap had been reduced to about fifteen seconds and I pushed on harder than ever. My legs felt like bricks. I noticed a group of five or six riders gaining on me and hoped I had enough gas to make it around the course one more time. The anxiety was mounting as the race went on but I put in one final hard effort on the long back straght to seal the deal. I rolled across the line with my hands in the air as if I had just won the magnificent Paris-Roubaix! Paydirt!

After reflecting on the race I noticed one main area that was in need of maintenance- clipping back in after the remount. I was all over the place, slipping on the pedals, getting one foot in right away and the other sort of hanging in limbo for a few strokes, having to look down and not ahead as I remounted- all these things cost time in a race. A proficient 'cross racer will have a fluid like remount and not even look down at the pedals. I must work on this! Another place that will help is being able to hop the barriers. I watched the winner of the A's race hop over each barrier and demolish the field. How hard can it be?? When I was fifteen I was able to bunnyhop a standing garbage can on my bmx bike. I can get over just about any log obstacle on my mountain bike. Why is it that on a 'cross bike it becomes impossible? I was doing it in practice but when race time came I didn't have the nerve to do it for fear of crashing.

Overall, the day was of course a success. It felt good to walk away with an early season win under my belt. It's been a a long time since that's happened! The last two weeks have also been so typical of my last few years of racing. The variation has been astounding- one week I'm on fire and the next I could have walked the course faster. I hope to try and even it out as much as possible this fall and gain some consistency. So stay tuned for this week's Copper Cross back down at South Sea-Tac as I take on the dreaded Sarlac Pit yet again!

Over and out
F.J.H

A Day at the Races With Average Joe

Staff writer F. Joe Hamilton takes on the Labor Day Cyclocross Championships.

By F. Joe Hamilton
September 5th, 2007

Editor's Note: F. Joe Hamilton is a local archeologist and avid cyclist. He commutes for training and lives the good life with his wife and two dogs in north Seattle.

SEATAC, WA- The Seattle cyclocross season is upon us! Dust your TUFOs off and shoulder your steed for another season of lactate threshold goodness! I quickly decided on Friday to suffer through the Labor Day Cyclocross Championships down at south SeaTac Monday. I'm a Cat 3/B racer with a few seasons under my belt, some better than others, and I was just looking to get involved in the 'cross scene in the area and ride one of my favorite bikes. I haven't been able to pull together a whole lot of training time and I can't say that I have peak fitness at the moment. In fact, I've undertaken a whole new philosophy to 'cross racing this year (can you say, "race into shape?"). I haven't put forth much in the way of riding outside of commuting to work and a few short weekend rides. What harm can come of it, right? There are so many factors to each race that the strongest guy doesn't always win anyway. Besides, I can't think of a better way to start "training" than to jump in head first by running some 32C tires through a bunch of loose, sandy single-track. And that's exactly what we had!

The course was a mixture of about 70% single-track and 25% pavement, with a small section of double-track. The paved sections were short, and most were old roads overgrown with grasses. Blackberry bushes lined much of the course and ripped the hell out of my arm when I tried to take an inside line. Oh, and did I mention that there was plenty of sand?? South SeaTac Park sits upon a large glacial till feature deposited about 15,000 years ago as massive Pleistocene ice sheets retreated from the area. Landforms such as these are famous for their loosely sorted soils with gravels and cobbles, and this course had plenty of that. Did I failed to mention that I'm an archaeologist and that I study soil and landscapes regularly?

Anyway, from the start, the pavement section shot us down to a sandy climb that was "rideable" depending on the line, and then into a mile or so of single track. After crossing a slight downhill section through deep sand -what I kept referring to as "The Sarlacc Pit,"- the single track spit us back out in front of the crowd and then onto a short pavement section whereby we took a hard right and shouldered our bikes for a short, steep run-up. After that, there was a flat wide section with the infamous double barrier, and then more single track. This was followed by more pavement and then the long, long, run-up where people stood and heckled the riders. After that it was a few short turns and we did it all over again. Not your typical 'cross course, but it sure beat some others I have ridden.

I placed myself somewhere near the back of the bunch for the start and got caught up behind some riders in the first single-track section. So, despite what you may be thinking, I was not in the front group, but I wasn't too far back either. It's always great to hear anxious riders in the back shouting to the riders holding up traffic in the single-track to "pedal, pedal, pedal!" So that's what those two spinney arms are for down there?! I gave this so-called "pedaling" a try, and in the wider sections I was able to make my way through some traffic. Once the initial shock of racing intensity died down and I settled into a rhythm, I was able to make a bit of headway. I had a Tenacious D song repeating in my head for most of the race, and my legs felt pretty good. The sand began to take its toll on riders, and I watched "The Sarlacc Pit" pick off one rider after another. At one point on a steep sandy descent one rider went over the bars and head first into some blackberry bushes (dude, are you alright?). By the second of four laps, I managed to scuttle through the rough spots relatively unscathed and had a pretty good position. It was short lived.

The day before the race, I had bolted new Time cleats onto my shoes. Big mistake! They worked too well. At the dismount before the long run-up my left foot failed to release, my whole bike swung around from behind me, and I ended up doing a baseball slide into the cones. As I laughed to myself for executing what would surely have made a great YouTube clip, I shouldered my bike and began the run-up. As I was running I noticed out of the corner of my eye my chain swinging around. Damn. I dropped my chain. At the top I had to push the chain on with my hands. At that point about seven riders passed me. Oh well, it was still a solid effort and all was certainly not lost.

I learned two main things in doing this race. The first is that I noticed how much incorporating running into my daily schedule helps on the run-ups. Having recently relocated to the Seattle area from western Montana, and being the owner of two 101-octane dogs, there isn't as much room to let them tear around as there once was. So, sort of by default, I've been running them a few times a week the old fashioned way; by strapping on way-too-expensive-shoes and running myself along-side them with leashes in hand. This has paid off. My legs felt really strong on the running sections. The second thing I learned is that if I let my bike slide across my back when shouldering it, the weight is dispersed across both shoulders. Doing so also allows my right hand to remain free to have more momentum for uphill running. Ding ding! Another winner. And hey, when my steed is a twenty-five pound Surly I'll take all the weight dispersal and momentum I can get! So despite my less than ideal finishing position I walked away with something of value.

Overall, I think this 'cross season is going to be a bit different than previous ones. I'm out to have fun this year; to ride my bike as hard as a can but not get too serious. I'll leave that to others. In fact, even in the B's category I've already encountered some jarheads that take themselves way too seriously. One guy elbowed me more than once on the long run-up and wouldn't let me pass. Hey buddy, if you're elbowing me at, oh, 15th or so place, you got bigger problems than me trying to get by you! Give it up! This isn't track racing. But in all, racing at South SeaTac Park was a great experience. After I was done, I even found some spectators in the woods at a good course obstacle that offered me a cold can of cheap beer. Thanks! As for how I placed, what does it matter? It was sunny in Seattle, I had a cold beer in my belly, and I learned something for next time. Maybe next time I'll even put in a few minutes of "real effort" and see what it brings about. It'll all come together sometime this season!

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