Race Report: Hood River Double Cross

I’ld like to thank three people for convincing me that cyclocross wasn’t some crazy excuse to ride a road bike off-road… one year ago, my exact thoughts were “why would you ever want to do that?” especially after watching friends suffer through an event last fall in Boulder.

Heather Paris: “Lady, you need to do cyclocross.”
Justin Finn: “You should get a cyclocross bike.”
Gordie Cummings: “What do you think of a Felt?”

And so like any responsible 29-year old single gal would do, I bought a new bike. This was after I took Tigger cyclocross in the Mac forest (some of you may remember this post as the one that prompted a total overhaul of my drivetrain/brakes by John at Full Cycles after I repeated, “I, state your name, will never ride Tigger cyclocross again.”) So, it wasn’t so much of an impulse buy.

But, I digress.

Double Cross. Double your pleasure. Double your fun. Double your Pain.

It’s always exciting doing an adventure for the first time. I remember my first criterium (and last), my first triathlon, my first 800m race in college, my first and only marathon (did I say exciting? I meant painful). I was a little intrepid about going to the race alone, so I posted to the Pacific Power/Blue Sky listserve for a travel buddy. And to my relief, I got veteran cyclocross racer Todd to respond. On the way to Hood River we talked about technique, strategy, what to expect, how he got into the sport, and organic toaster pastry V. Pop-tarts (this argument was a draw).

The weather was cold and windy, but the threatened rain never materialized. I prerode the course in between the single-speed racers, and by race time I had a “safe” race strategy. I had decided to race in the Women’s B category for reasons that I was pretty sure I wasn’t a beginner (no beginner owns five bikes… ahem, Heather) and I wasn’t ready to throw it in with the Big Girlz.  My plan was to start off slower, staying wide on the first turns and hang on to the leader only if I wasn’t pushing too hard.  And that is exactly how it played out:
The Women’s A field took off 30 seconds ahead of us.  I settled in behind a Bridgetown Velo rider at the start.  I tailed her through the first sandpit (tricky and deep) and into the hard and fast single track. I came out on slightly soggy grass and up to a “six-pack” or barriers (three knee-high barriers in a row) that I traversed without incident (thank you Tuesday night barrier practice!).

Todd showing some skills over the six-pack.

Around the back of the high school, there were a couple of 180s on pavement and then we descended down a loose dirt, bumpfest with a blackberry ensnared drop-off on one side and a descending angle 180° at the very bottome that I moneyed on every lap!

What then followed was a series on single-track: through a field, over a bridge, over a barrier with a run-down on trail stairs, followed by a bridge and a run-up on trail stairs (quads burning).

Todd demonstrating technique on the unusual "run-down".

After this I came out of the woods onto a deep sand/dirt/gravel progression and then dropped back into the woods for another bridge (with a nasty step up that could have caused a pinch flat), and a steep uphill into —#$%%— loose-sand.

And around again. I made the pass right before entering the woods on the second lap and never looked back. (Okay, I looked back a little, but only on the hairpin turns). In total, I never crashed, I only bobbled once (near the blackberry drop-off, where another girl decided to get a facial... OUCH!), and I had a smile on my face pretty much the only time, except for once when I choked on some dust kicked up by an A-rider.

Take Two:

Two races are always better than one, especially if you are in a place as great as Hood River. After a night of camping, Todd and I had a greasy-spoon breakfast at Bette’s Place (amazing assortment of muffins), tooled around in the Dog River Coffee Company (proudly brewing Stumptown), and checked out the surf shop. We headed back to the high school to watch some of the racing and see what the directors had come up with for today.

They must have been in a “twisted” mood when they came up with this one. A bunch of hair-pin turns on grass, a hard right in sand to enter single track, a 180° in deep sand around a shed structure, tight left turn in single track that immediately went over a bridge, a long run-up, and an uphill turny section, accompanied by a drop-off that I had to hop off or put a foot down on every time.

Powering through an uphill 180.

Cranking it through the sand!

The race went almost exactly like the day before, except the first rider got away from me a little bit on the first lap before I reeled her in. I was noticably tired from the previous days exertions and my back and quads were burning when I had to carry the bike on the last couple laps (6 total). There were more riders and more single track, which meant more passes and less opportunity to pass. I had a lot of trouble picking my spots and almost laughed at myself out loud when a Gentle Lovers A-rider (Erin) passed me and the girl I had been trying to pass all-at-once. Definitely going to have to practice those kick-a$% moves.

Thanks Disco Velo for putting on such a fun race!