NMCX #4 - Zozobra 'Cross
Note: I'm a regular suspect over at mtbr.com, but have been smitten by my new shiny red girlfriend / CX bike and am HOOKED. So I thought I'd post up my first real RBR Cyclocross Board thread here....
Race #4 in the NMCX Series (which incidentally was only the third race due to a permit/venue snafu a week ago) was held at the site of the annual torching of 'Old Man Gloom'. Otherwise known as Zozobra, he's the icon in a strangely pagan ceremony held each year in Santa Fe. The crowds that gather for the event are epic - all to see the 3 story tall effigy moaning and groaning and then set afire by some sort of fairy character.
Spooky. The idea is that a years worth of stress, worries, and maladies go up in smoke - until next year anyhow.
In flames:
Fitting that a week from Halloween we raced at this site - though we were surprised by atypically balmy weather (high 60's) and sunny skies. A complete about-face from our experience 2 weeks ago in cool, soggy conditions. I know that's how 'cross is supposed to be - but I could have used a few fair weather challenges to tune the bike and body for the 1 hour of pain that these races are!
My buddy Rich and I caught the cross bug last season and talked with the series promoter, Stephen, about bringing a few races up to Santa Fe - as they were all in Albuquerque last year (about an hour south and 2000 feet lower in elevation). The Zozobra Site is perfect; downtown, parking, toilets, varied terrain including an old fort structure on a hill, a bunch of bridges over arroyos and other obstacles, some timber stairs for run-ups, and plenty of dirt/gravel paths to open up the legs on course. We had the bonus of a scuzzy scrub grass section that turned into a perfect off-camber sand pit after the first few racers went though!
430AM I hop up out of bed and load up all my stuff; CX bike, spare wheels, mtn. bike, pump, a few tools, a pop-up tent, some chairs, a table, and so on. Almost forgot my race / riding kit but remembered at the last second. I was hoping to race, but left it open ended in case we needed help with scoring or other event tasks. I also packed up a slew of gear that I hoped would keep my 2 year old, Victor - amused while he helps me help set up. PB&J's, chocolate milk, fruit, and some cookies in case of emergency. Big red wagon - and we're off!
While it's still pitch dark out at 6AM we all met at the venue; Stephen and his Active Knowledge Tour Company Rig (thats his main business) pulls in complete with some juniors racer / event workers, his S.O. who's an official and registration master, and a whole trailer load of barriers, posts, and miles of caution tape. And a PA, and tables, and pop-ups, and so on. Rich was already hard at work driving rebar pins to barricade part of the course along a hard gravel stretch on a straight-away along the edge of a local road. Victor and I disembark in the 39 degree chill to set up the upper/backside of the course with a wagon load of stakes and caution tape - and we're good.
By 8AM we had a race venue ready to go! Racers started arriving, Rich's wife - the Bagel and Coffee and registration helper / goddess Tanya arrived, and it was that great time for organizers / promoters that the event takes on a life of its own. The course ended up being REALLY fun. Less grassy and more technical than typical CX courses - but still best tackled on a CX bike for the longer faster sections, and when you had to (ugh) CARRY your bike up stairs. It was a wee bit short as we'd find out later, given that the A Race guys (my group) were ripping laps in under 5 minutes. Ideally we'd have 6.5 - 7 minute laps, so we'll extend it a bit for the next one on November 9th.
C Race Start:
9AM and the sun is up and warming everything nicely, and the 'C' race goes off! Looked like about 18-20 racers that were the fun mixed group of novices, juniors, older men and women, and beginners. These races are so fun because of the fantastic mix of folks that show up. They raced for about 30 minutes - and seemed to have had a good time aside from a few spills here and there.
10AM and it's getting toasty out - and the 'B' Race goes off! Again, maybe 20 or so racers and the first lap was fast and tight! These guys are pretty serious - and were being kept honest by our super nice, super-hammer Nina - local pro mtb lady and always a contender in these events. Her serious pro-caliber engine, and excellent technical skills make a mean mix. I heard/saw one bad crash as a fella fumbled a dismount on a bridge, approaching the harder stairs section - went down a sandy bit of asphalt and looked like he hit the handrail for the stairs! Ooof. Not quite ambulance worthy, but reports were of a big gash and some bruises.
Dismount at 2nd Stair run-up:
About mid-way through the B Race my wife showed up to take over Victor Duty so I could race - as it worked out that I could in fact race. Stephen and his crack crew were making it look easy. By the time I got dressed and ready, we had about 20 minutes until staging. Time to get going!
Here's where I ought to note that at 1030 PM the night before, I did my "pre-ride"; a 40 minute workout, in the shed (small house, rollers are loud) on the road bike, on the trusty old rollers. Why do I mention it? I don't know - but I do know it helped! Maybe to garner a little more sympathy or something. Or to prove just how bad ass I am (yeah right). I warmed up for about 20 minutes and then did a series HARD, fast anaerobic efforts to really blow the system out, as I had last ridden (in the freezing rain) on the previous Tuesday. Not a good week as far as race prep goes, but like riding in a tool shed at 1030 PM one does what one has to do to get that fix, eh? I do know from 4-5 years of serious racing and training that ANY effort the day before a race helps. If I do not ride the day before - I always feel like hell, and never recover from the initial crazy effort that constitutes mountain or cross race starts.
Steep!
Then hop back on and GO!
So with 20 minutes to warm up, I hit a lightly traveled neighborhood road - and spin about. Joined by Rich and fellow Oh-Dark-Thirty training buddy - Dr.Tim - we pedal on and sprint up some gradual hills, then roll back to the race area. I slug a little gu and some water, and head to the start area. I also notice my newish shoes - despite being ratcheted all the way down - are not all that tight. Eh. Oh well. I got them for CX and winter riding - a little big so I could wear heavy socks. With thin little liner socks - they were a little wobbly. No problem, just another *little* distraction to get put out of mind - but be weary of when sprinting up stairways! I'll outline the course in the actual race run-down in a moment. As we all start staging up, I realize it is hot out. I zip back to the car and dump a bottle of water over the back of my jersey and - AHHHHHH, that feels good and ought to help mitigate my usual overheating in the sun issues. Back to the line, as we're about to blast off for an hour of mayhem!
11AM A racers start off from the bottom of a gently climbing parking lot. I maneuver to about mid-pack before we choke down somewhat to a nasty lumpy little climb up a grassy/scrubby hill - then loop around, come down the same nasty little hill to a hard left and onto the rest of the course. We laid out a fun circuit, mixing up faster dirt, gravel, and / or grass sections with some technical areas and two run-ups. After the aforementioned start terrain, we headed out a long out-and-back-and-out drag race sort of strip, where you could keep an eye or your competitors as everyone funneled through the maze of caution tape and posts. I picked off 1 - 2 slower starters here, and focused on my buddies Rich and Mike (aka Chappy to not be confused with another Mike) ahead by a bit - as we approached one of the harder little spots. After drag racing through these three straight aways, we hit an off-camber descending right hand sweeper with a bit of a drop at the bottom. BAM!!! WTF was that? My bars felt like they dropped about 10 degrees DOWN, making for some mighty weird steering, braking, and shifting. DOH! The first damned lap and I screw up the bike. Pedaling away and once clear of the offending drop, the course took a hard left, then swept around the perimeter of a baseball field and then onto a path that allowed for some high speeds. Just past the end of the ballfield was our pit area, which was adjacent to the start/finish area. I'd need it! Team mate, local masters HAMMER, and buddy - Charlie - happened to stroll in at the beginning of the race and was immediately enlisted. I tossed my cross bike, and grabbed my mtn. bike right-quick, losing 3-5 positions in a heartbeat. I yelled that the bars felt weird....
C Racer approaching the pit area:
On this fast backside, just after the pit area, we hit a descending bridge over to some more fast, gently climbing dirt sections. Then, dropping off an embankment into choppy scrub grass we zigged and zagged, ground our way through a sand pit to a dismount to a long flat stairway run-up. Back onto the fast dirt embankment for a moment, next to the course that's running UP in the opposite direction - was another opportunity to gauge where you were in the field. I was towards the middle/back, alas - but feeling good despite being on the mountain bike and having all of 17 psi in the rear tire. We took a tough, loose little sharp U-turn back down the embankment, across a bridge (back to the same side as the start / finish area) and to the next run-up, a steep longer set of stairs. At the top, Charlie yelled that it seemed like the bike was just fine - if a little out of whack - so I said I'd grab it on the backside of the next lap. Re-mounting right by the start / finish area, after the hard run-up, we're in the same parking lot we started in - and I hammered my way back up the 1/4 mile or so gradual paved climb to start lap two, on bike number two!
Anything techy was fine on the Yeti - but man! the straight-aways and grass were a lot more work. Charlie and a helper had my CX bike waiting - all pro pit style, so I dismounted at a sprinting pace, handed off the mtn. bike, grabbed the CX bike and remounted FAST, not losing but a fraction of a second. Woohoo! Seems like the right shifter / brake lever got pushed forward and inboard a good bit - but everything worked fine despite being odd feeling.
Now I really started racing! Lap three, back to bike number ONE. Fly over the bridge, up the embankment, and off it again. I see Rich and Chappy a good deal ahead, and have my targets to set my sights on.... and work on riding my funked up bike as efficiently as possible. I've mentioned it many times before, in all sorts of race contexts - but efficiency is crucial in addition to all the other aspects required to race well. Modulating efforts, not braking too much, being in the right gear as the course changes dramatically from moment to moment, and so on - are all key. I found the fast line through the sand this lap, and keep it in mind for the rest of the race. I found where to pedal hard, and where to ease off approaching dismounts or hard turns or other features. Mixing up standing pedaling and seated pedaling was working well, and I was in my big ring the whole lap, every lap (a too big for CX 50t chainring - need a 46 or 48 SOON!). Descending the chattery tech stuff in the drops was more comfortable (good call Rich!) and my bars stayed put. And so on.
At this point, there are a number of folks ahead, and one small elite group as the field really started spreading out; the race leader and Nationals level racer (Patrick) is WAY off the front with no one near him. A pro mtn. bike racer and obvious cross whiz (Mitch) is next, followed by a mean threesome; the two series contenders and KHS team-mates Mike P. and Hawke M. and a Nob Hill Velo hammer, Dave K. Back from this threesome are a number of others; my team mate and aforementioned Dr. Tim, my buddies Rich and Mike, and a few others including junior phenom Alex. I start targeting them one by one. At the start of lap three, I pass a guy on the steep techy climb near the start. On the drag race out-and-back-and-out section, I pass another couple of fellas. Circling around the ballfield, I see Rich ahead, and catch him on the long climbing dirt stretch after the pit area a few minutes later. Back around the next 1/2 of the course, I see Chappy - seems like he's having tire issues - and I get by him. Now it's getting a little lonely, but I see Dr. Tim a ways up, and focus on his wheel next. Another 1/2 lap later I find I'm getting closer - and on the steep techy section I catch him. Sitting on his wheel for a moment, I just miss him as he does some weird slow-motion crash around a 90 degree left turn, just before the drag race stretch. Bummer! But I know what to do - and that is ATTACK a guy when he's down.
At this point we're a little more than 1/2 way through the 60 minutes of agony, and the only folks I see are WAY off. Long story short, I chase, ride hard, close the gap a little bit each lap for a few laps - but never can reel in the gang of three - as they were starting to attack each other now. So the next 4-5 laps are about the same; chase, pedal hard, ride smart, and keep the gap to MY chasers from closing. While I'm able to get further and further ahead, I simply cannot make time on these faster, smarter, more experienced CX racers. I try, but then hear the red-zone alarms going off, and ease back a bit.
In the end, I think I snag 6th place - a better result than I'd dare to have imagined after getting next-to-last 2 weeks ago with a mangled bike and spent body. Seems like everyone had a good time, an we learned that we'll have to lengthen the course by about 2 minutes for our NOV 9th edition to keep it more reasonable, as Patrick was rippin' laps in well under 5 minutes! Yow. Stephen and his crack-crew of helpers and officials made short work of getting results up, and getting the course broken down fast. Next time it will likely be a lot colder, and my bike WILL WORK for (1) race in its entirety, dammit.
Also to note,
James Rickman from
Mountain Flyer Magazine was there to shoot and to do a story for the December edition. He covered the Pajarito Punishment NMORS this summer, and had some awesome shots. Check it out when it hits the stands, and go check out his shots of the whole race when he gets them posted up. In the meantime, he was gracious enough to forward me one of myself here (so easy to tell the pros pix from my lame ones!) - me back on the cross bike (again):
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