Beat the Freak Cyclocross #1 and #2

I know, I know… I’ve been slacking on writing my race reports. It was a really good weekend…

Saturday was all about rain. About halfway to Fayettville, it started, and it didn’t stop until much later in the afternoon. When we arrived at the race course, it was coming down pretty hard, and soon enough, parts of the course were under more than a foot of water. The entire thing was a mud pit.

Only one other woman (Kim Bishop) showed up to race the 1/2/3 race, and we lined up with the cat 3 men. I got off to a slightly sluggish start, but managed to pass her early in the first lap. From there, I just worked on picking off the guys. The course was good for me- the mud was either deep or greasy, so I used all of the mud-riding skills I learned during the 1st lap of DSG (the 12 hour race that went horribly wrong back in May). I ended up coming in 5th overall (against 10 men). Sweet!

Photos (Courtesy of Tina Freeman):

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Conditions on Sunday were not nearly as harsh. The sun was actually out, and a little bit of the mud had dried up. The course was less technical, but did include a sand pit. I lined up with the same group as the previous race. This time, my start was much better- I entered the first part of the course flawlessly tucked up in the middle of the group. There was still a lot of mud & soft grass as well as a nasty sand pit, but some parts of the course were hard and fast. I passed a lot of guys. A couple of them (Ryan included) had mechanical issues. Because of that, I ended up finishing 2nd overall. Woohoo! I like beating up on the guys a little bit :)

Here’s me in the sand & over some barriers:

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I’m amazed at how much of a difference a nice bike makes! The BH Carbon is a cyclocross machine (though, unlike the Surly, it’s no fun to ride on singletrack because of the stiffness). I’m really excited for the entire season, but even moreso for what’s coming up in January- Yesterday on Facebook I saw that Eddie O’Dea (55nine Performance) is making preparations for Southern Cross. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I experienced an episode of Epic Fail when I lost that race to Carey Lowery in the final runup before the finish line.

Yeah. That race and I have unfinished business.

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