(all photos pdxcross.com)The early morning sun glittered and reflected off fresh snow that still lay on the side of the road, bright blue and blinding white, not what one thinks of as cyclocross weather.
A lazy sat morning gave way to a hurried ride over to Seventh Mountain for round one of the Crossaflixion Cup. I arrived early and bundled up. I took over the microphone duties for the rest of the morning, with a little time to sneak in a ride on a really tough but fun course. The morning started out with a bit of snow, some ice, and a little mud. However, by mid day riders were rolling through looking like they had crashed and were more and more covered with mud.
It had warmed up a lot and thawed out significantly by the time the A's started. The field had spread apart by the time we reached the bottom of a long descent. A double track climb led up to
one of the toughest run ups I have done...it was a bit absurd, nearly impossible to really run and finished on a slight hill that forced you to remount on loose uphill gravel while you were completely exhausted.Sunnyside had some great results with multiple wins and lots of podiums. Wade put on a monster chase after flatting and definitely got my vote for gutsy ride of the day. Veronica took a win, Chad took a win, Joanne took a win. Sunnyside was a force to be reckoned with!
Despite being tough, it was a fun course and it was a good tune up for cyclocross nationals which could dish out some very similar conditions, minus the giant run-up. If you're in Bend on the 28th, be sure to check out the second race of the Crossaflixion Cup. Info Here.
Barton Park, it's a love hate relationship for many people. The hate usually involves long run ups, sketchy muddy off camber and out of control descents...As for the love, while it's the same. I was psyched to see a good descent and a couple of good length run ups as well as some tricky mud and rocks in the woods. I raced hard, not as fast as I wanted, but it was what I had after a previous days race. There were riders I should have fought to stay with and others who I was glad I caught, but it was a tough, hard fought race that was a great end to the crusade series.I will take a weekend or two off from the racing and traveling, but keep on the training and intervals. We have been doing double race weekend for the last month and have barely been home long enough to get anything done. It's feeling more like ski season, but I am gonna make sure to set aside time and motivation to train hard for the next couple weeks leading up to the USGP races and cyclocross nationals.
Photos from Sat at PDXCROSS
Photos from Sun at PDXCROSS
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1 comments:
Enjoy the rest.
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