I felt completely turned around on Saturday at the MFG Steilicoom Race, the first day of Cross Clash (a friendly competition between Washington state and Oregon riders). In fact I was as the course was essentially the reverse of how it is generally raced. Thankfully, we didn't have to go down the infamous "Knapp Time Run Up." With a long climb, and ample technical cornering, it was a course for me.
I was greeted at the start line by the local cat 1-2 racers saying "go easy on us!" Although my motivation when racing road is to bring as much suffering as possible, that wasn't my mission today. I was just excited to race some cross and represent Washington to help secure some points for the coveted "grail de la grunge." It was a fun course that suited roadies well with lots of long power straights, a long roadie climb, and lots and lots of fun grassy cornering. Loved it!
Another very-pro MFG series call-up, and the race was off! Just when I thought the hole shot was mine, Jenni Geartner of Riverstone Women's Racing zoomed by to nab it just as we hit grass. I added a little extra speed a couple turns later going over the barriers to get my gap. From there, I put it in time trial mode and worked to stretch it out as Jenni is also a roadie and was hot on my wheel. Towards the end of the first lap, we started working our way through the men. At least most were kind enough to let us by without challenging us to race them as well, which I really appreciated. I used the men to my advantage and got out of sight of the chase group. From then on, I challenged myself to add as much time to my lead as possible as well as see how far I could work through the men's fields.
Final result: Won by a margin of 48 seconds and worked through at least 1/2 of the cat 3 master men's field.
I attacked from the start, missed the hole shot, but lead the rest of the race. I challenged myself each lap to go faster and managed to stretch my lead to a comfortable 30 seconds, but this being cross - a sport where anything can and will happen - I didn't let up. Working through a good portion of the men's races ahead of me, I managed to win by ~50 seconds!
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