Cyclocross? Psychocross?

The Stats:

• ~45 minutes of racing
• Fairly flat course (it's in a city park--what do you expect?)
• 4th-place in the Masters 35+ division
• # of Wrecks: 1.5

Great turnout and a fun scene at MooseCross this weekend!  Victor Velo hosted the 4th Annual two-day festival of cyclocross racing on our beauty of a course at Pioneer Park in Victor.  (It's right down the street from the house--usually I just think of it as a fun obstacle course to ride with our dog.)  I spent the weekend helping make it happen, and figured that I may as well jump in for one of the races.

Fortunately the "Masters" division doesn't require mastery of this whole cyclocross thing, as I had only a microscopic clue of what I was in for.  I wasn't the only dude out there on a mountain bike, but there weren't many of us.

The Fitzgerald's team put a good showing at the start line--lots of orange and green and black.  And see the guy with the big white beard?  He smoked me for the first few laps.  Fortunately I can pedal my bike with some semblance of speed.  Unfortunately a large part of this whole cyclocross thing doesn't involve pedaling a bicycle.

Who the hell thought it would be a good idea to jump off your bike, carry it over a variety of obstacles, and then launch yourself back into the saddle, all while operating fully anaerobically?  Having never learned this vital(?) cycling skill, I watched the race leaders pull further and further away as I fumbled about getting my tender bits situated back in their rightful place atop my seat before the next dismount.

Speaking of dismounting, I thought I was actually decent at getting off my bike and running until I was shown otherwise shortly after the groovy-fun banked turns in the above photo.  A high-speed straightaway took us into a hard right turn and a "run-up".  (Big mound of dirt with railroad ties embedded into it.)

The setup was good, my speed felt right, I had my right leg ready to take the first running step, and as I launched myself forward off the bike my left foot stayed firmly locked into its pedal and everything went to shit.  Facefirst with a mouthful of dirt, struggling to get my foot out of its damn pedal with my bike laying on top of me.  Definitely lost some time on the leaders in that one.

But to hell with it.  Rolling through the finish with beer in hand it felt pretty good to have done it.  Maybe not entirely successful, but  I was glad to have taken part in this painful, bizarre form of cycling competition.  (Unfortunately it turns out that racing cyclocross is not recommended for people with busted ribs.  I didn't end up racing on Sunday.)

I'll have lots to think about working on before giving this whole thing another shot.