Pike's Peak Supercross #1

This past weekend was officially my first cyclocross race of the year, and my third ever. I traveled down to Colorado Springs, CO to race the Pike's Peak Supercross. I wasn't sure how I was going to do since I had only ridden my bike three times over the two weeks prior to this race. I had also upgraded to Cat 3.

I get to the race early so that I am able to watch some of the other races and check out the course. The course was constantly changing. It had rained a little over three inches the night before, which meant mud and lots of it. The earlier races were slow due to the conditions and amount of mud. around noon the sun came out full bore. The course started to dry out and become faster.

The layout of the course was more of a mtb race then a cross race. You started on the flat hard pack road and did a loop leading into single track which was technical, but fast. about half way through the course you come to the beginning of the climb with a barrier, then you climb more till you hit a steep intense climb followed by a mud pit that shot you out onto a road where you continued to climb....still climbing...followed by another technical section, a fast downhill and then back to climbing. Once you finally hit the top you made a fast decent through numerous terrain transitions, over a bridge, and back to the single track section before you start climbing again.

If you hate climbing this wasn't the race to do. There were no breaks between obstacles. You were maxed from the gun.

At the start we were all sitting at the line talking about the course and what we thought about it and things of that nature. The conversation led somehow to my bike and the low down on it. A guy from some magazine, paper, website (not really sure) wanted to take some pics and get the story. The weapon of choice is my new 2009 Giant TCX, decked with SRAM Force, FSA carbon k-force seat post, stem, TRP carbon brakes, Ksyrium SL premium wheels, Selle Italia team seat, etc. all weighing in a 17lbs. AND, then it lead to what people were running for gears. I set mine up as a 1X10 (45X11-25). Everyone was pushing a 42 and wishing for smaller. A lot of the guys basically said that I wasn't going to do well because I was running way to big of gears...blah, blah. I just listened and figured we shall see.

The start was fast (almost killed a unleashed dog on course). I was sitting tenth for the flat fast section and saw a gap start to form and jumped on it. Three guys and myself opened a gap leading into the single track section and continued to push it up the climb. By lap two the race was between us. I sat third for the majority of the race. Two laps to go I could no longer push the gears I had up two of the steepest parts of the climb and was forced to run it. The gap opened and first and second places we sealed. I ended up being passed on one of the climbs and couldn't close the gap before the finish. I finished forth, 45seconds behind the leader.

Overall, I thought it was a good starting point for me. Already I have ridden more this week then the two prior. The next race is Boulder CX series #1, 9/27/08. Should be a good race and hopefully one step closer to upgrading. I am looking forward to see how things differ since the race will resemble more of a CX course then a MTB one.