Whitman Cyclocross

Pre-riding this new INWCX course was the coldest cross ride I’ve been on since nationals last December. The most of the grassy park was covered in frost and leaves making the corners slick and mushy. I lost feeling in my hands and feet half way through my first practice lap and had to retreat till the sun had warmed everything up a few races into the day. Luckily it was quite sunny despite the bitter cold so the day got warmer and the course got drier.

There were only 4 category 3 women at the start line, Janye (easily a cat 1 woman), Natalie (probs a cat 2 for sure), and a REP racing girl (also almost a cat 2).  I mentally tried to get ready to hang on for as long as I could with these strong women and was having difficulties. The start went off and there I was, last in line following them, struggling to keep up. I was hardly hanging on, my body was tired and not ready, my head wasn’t quite in it, and I was loosing ground fast. Luckily for me however, the course wasn’t built with pure leg strength in mind, there was one of the trickiest, sandy, off camber descents I’ve ever seen in a ‘cross race right after a tight 180° turn.  A steep switchback uphill that had given me trouble during my warm up directly followed it. Needless to say, this element slowed my competition, allowing me to keep up with them a tad longer; Jayne even dropped her chain, loosing a ton of ground. With Natalie now strongly pulling the lead, I was in 3^rd until the sand flipped me off my bike, then I quickly was in 4^th again and barely halfway through my first lap.

With little to no hope I hopped back on my bike and tried to get back into the race. I told my self I just needed to finish admirably and not drop too hard. So I kept on pushing hardly thinking I could gain anything back, but working nonetheless. Halfway through my next lap I heard someone yelling for me that I was close and could chase down the next rider. I figured they were nuts but kept going until I heard someone else cheering similarly and caught a glimpse of the REP racing girl ahead of me. So for the next lap and a half or so I slowly but surely clawed my way back up to her until Natalie’s screams of pain broke through my race-focused mind and toward the sound. She was off the course on the grass screaming; I couldn’t tell what was wrong but she was hunched over and people were running towards her. I had to keep focused on the race though; otherwise I might make a mistake and be in a similar position and I knew Natalie would want me to keep racing harder than ever – so I did.

I held on the REP racing girl’s wheel watching her handling skills and trying to pick out where to attack. Maybe after hearing Natalie’s screams her confidence was broken or something because she was cornering very timidly and I knew all I had to do was make one move to get ahead, hammer hard for a little ways and then I’d lose her with in the turns.  With 2 laps to go we neared the tricky descent and down she went into the sand; it wasn’t where I’d planned on advancing on her, but I took it anyways and didn’t look back. I pushed the rest of the lap hard, broadening my gap her with each corner and trying not to lose any ground on the straights. I held it strong all the way to the finish behind Jayne to get 2^nd place, even though it should have been Natalie’s place before she crashed out.

Saturday October 29th – Zephyr’s NWCC Conference Championship Race – Stanger Farm, Walla Walla WA

Having gotten in quite a bit of practice on Charles’ course I knew it was imperative to get a good start for this race and I did. Starting all together (single speed men, masters women, cat 4 women, and collegiate) I blasted up to the front the second the gun went off trying to get a top spot for the first turn just behind the single speed men. From there I was free to navigate the quick, weaving turns without people in the way, just as I had practiced them over and over earlier in the week.

From there we flew through the 1^st barn and fire pit, down the steep corner, across the stream crossing, and up the steep embankment towards the Wheatfield. Even though it was still early in the first lap, I had put a significant gap on the entire rest of the field and wasn’t letting up just yet. Pushing it through the wheat field I hit the first flyover element with ease and didn’t end up scrubbing the last corner of the wheat as I had many times while practicing.

Next the course went through the second barn down towards the stream again, broken up by a roller bump yet not decreasing the speed at all. Dismounting at full tilt down the hill, I shouldered my bike, jumped the deep part of the stream and pegged it up the near vertical muddy embankment only to be greeted by Charles screaming at me and handing me a shot of beer. I grabbed it and threw it back quickly as I remounted my bike before rounding the turn towards the giant circle of death. The circle of death is a large circle on a diagonal slope that spirals inward and then back out again sending riders around and around in opposing directions.

Exiting the circle the course climbs up a grassy hill to the base of the Stanger Triple Flyover Element – the first of it’s kind.

The Stanger Triple Flyover (STF) has been hyped up for the past month on the series circuit and for good reason – it’s epic. Like a basic flyover element, riders must hammer up a steep short incline, across a short flat, and then push it back down the other side. On most courses the pathway under the flyover is usually an entrance to the beer garden or infield viewing area, not at Stanger farm though. After punching over the first part of the STF, riders are shot into a huge bermed turn that then sends them careening under the top flyover and into another giant bermed turn. The second turn adds to your speed, sends you down underground the path that sent you into the turn and spits you and back out to the grass infield of the course. With enough speed you can get some serious air coming out from under the STF.

Hitting the STF, I flew around the first berm, carried my speed and shot back out on to the infield a little fresher than before despite the taste of beer still lingering. Winding around the corners and up to the barriers I was gaining on a single speed rider and got past him on the straight way towards the finish. Totally loving the sunshine, speed, and cheering I kept up my speed for another lap and a half when I noticed a women’s cat 4 rider gaining on me in the wheat fields. As she came up I told her to race 3’s with me and we worked through the rest of the maze of wheat. I later learned that she was Michael’s (a shop/local cross rider) girlfriend, Kara, who would race 3’s if USAC would let her upgrade her license but until then was leading the women’s 4’s by storm. Indecisively I let her go by thinking I needed to save myself for later but then realized I was having to much fun to just sit back. I picked the pace back up, held my gap on everyone else, and tried and get back to Kara. From the sidelines I heard Natalie (a Zuster 3 rider and mentor type figure) tell me I could settle out because I had sealed the collegiate race, but I yelled back I was loving it and couldn’t stop and she cheered back.  I raced out the last laps, lapped a U of I girl, finished behind Kara, and had a huge smile on my face – it was the perfect day for the perfect course and I had a medal and trophy plaque waiting for me.

Collegiate Conference Championship Race Results:

Women’s A:

1.     Zephyr Sylvester - Whitman

2.     Aurora Bowers - Whitman

Women’s C:

1.     Boise State Rider

2.     U of Idaho Rider

…. can be very busy sometimes

apologies for the lack of race reports and the likes. we’re working on it! results are updated on EMDE though. as are the collegiate ones

Notable things about the course:

• big old run up. quite steep and long

• mini spiral element

• big 180° turn going in and back out of the lake

• quick laps

Notable notes on the Collegiate Women Race featuring myself and Aurora:

• We crushed the start… but Aurora crashed on one of the first tricky corners after a down hill section and lost a bunch of ground. 

• In just about 3 laps Aurora regained all her lost ground and caught back up to me

• She then proceeded to get a flat tire just before the barriers and pit and had to drop the race (we don’t have spare wheel sets)

• I went on to finish first despite being sick to my stomach, hacking up green stuff and coughing the whole way, getting a headache 3 laps in and then cramping in my calf with 1 to go.

• Aurora flat and frustrated and myself coughing and sickly decided to sit out the womens 123 race. She had put in too much effort in the first race to be able to hang on in the 3’s and I had to finally admit that I was sick and needed to get healthy/rest up.

• Overall? fun course for sure. good racing. but incredibly frustrating for both of us.

Notable notes on the Collegiate Women Race featuring Whitney and Kalen:

• Whitney kicked some serious butt and raced REAL hard beating some silly u of i riders

• Kalen put in a ton of effort, but due to a lacking week of riding, he did not do too well but did finish strong none the less!

Noteable notes on the ride home:

• Whitney at 2 mondo burritos in the time it took Aurora to order 1.

• Catergory: MTB Men 
• Bike: Stumpjumper 29er 
• Tires: Maxxis cross mark 2.2”
• Tire Pressure: 25psi front 28psi rear
• Result: 2nd out of 20ish

We got to the race with plenty of time for me to cheer on Zephyr and Aurora during their first races and get in 2.5 laps of the course.  However, I managed to loose track of time and only got in 15 minutes of warm-up. OOPS!!!

As I lined up I was somehow able to get the best starting position: first row, in the middle, on the smooth worn out line rather than the deep gravel!  I looked around and tried to gauge my competition since I haven’t raced up here yet and didn’t know a single person.  I decided I would play it safe and watch the race develop.  The start was rather tame.  I sat fourth wheel along the first fire road and kept my eye on the front of the lead group to make sure we weren’t splitting up.  After a while in the singletrack I took a peek back and saw that the five of us already had a gap.  Awesome!  I wasn’t feeling drained at all.  At this point a guy with dreads was leading.  His riding style was crazy and he looked like he was riding out of his comfort zone.  A U of I rider passed him and took over the pace making.

Right before the run-up a Gonzaga rider moved up and I decided it was time for me to get up as well.  The U of I rider had gotten a bit of a gap on the rest of us.  I grabbed onto Gonzaga’s wheel and let him tow me around for a full lap and a bit.  At that point I was feeling comfortable and decided it was time to turn it up a notch.  I pulled ahead of Gonzaga and tried to reel in the U of I.  I kept him in sight for a while, and at one point got tantalizingly close, but he pulled away from me again.  By the end of the race I wasn’t able to see him.  I put around 20 seconds into Gonzaga for a comfortable second place.

All in all I’m very happy with my first race for Whitman.  Next race I know what to expect and with a few changes maybe I’ll be competitive for the “Big W”!