Colorado State Championships: Cyclocross in Snow

Easy come; Easy go.

That's my foreshortened version of the Colorado Cyclocross State Championships.

Here's the long story:
I haven't been training at all since the end of September. Instead I just turn up at races for the free beer and to keep myself motivated against getting chubby. But when it snowed just before the big race, I was cursing myself for not keeping in shape. You see, I love inclement conditions. Like the song, I'm only happy when it rains.

Race started in sunshine, with about forty of us lining up for the Senior Women Open category. Temperatures were low (I recall the forecast high at a balmy 21F), and the snow was solid under our wheels. Great! Women were biting it left and right, and I found myself in stronger company than usual--I had worked my way up into the top third of the pack. All that riding to work in the snow had certainly paid off! See the grin on my face?

That's right about when I clipped some part of myself or my bike on a barrier. Down I went, came up heart thumping. "No problem" I thought, until I looked down. My wheel was roughly 90 degrees to my handlebars, and no amount of gentle persuasion would get it to return. I broke out my tool as my competitors flew by. Finally, with a lot of help from my friend Will, I straightened it out. I had lost my position, so I just spent the rest of the race enjoying myself, targeting and passing rider after rider. I finished up in 26th (I think) place.

Lesson learned: Don't get cocky when doing well, because something as basic as a barrier will jump out and get you.

Will shows me how not to pile drive over a barrier

In other race news from the day, my friend Lyndsey Bishop took an astonishing 3rd place in our category, right behind Amy Dombrowski and the winner, Kerry Barnholt. I didn't stick around for the men's race (the promise of warmth, chili, free beer at Oskar's Brewing was too hard to resist), but according to the race website, Daniel Summerhill took first, followed by Brandon Dwight and the ever-strong Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski.