Sunday, November 10, 2013

Race report: Woodland Park cyclocross

Today I was torn between a nice 10K trail race at Carkeek Park, and the Woodland Park cyclocross series finale.  I went with the cyclocross - the clincher was that the boys could easily watch the race AND they could do their first ever cyclocross race.  The day was awesome (but I think Matt is on the brink of a stress breakdown from chasing the boys around the park all day). 

I went out with the beginners again (this is after all just race 2).  The course was HARD with a lot of hills and a fair amount of mud.  There were all more tight turns than I remember on the last race.  Again, I was one of only a small handful of riders wearing running clothes ... I'm OK with that.  I was in the last wave allowed to ride so I started in the back of the pack.  They kick off each grouping off people by having riders organize based on number - mine ended in 7 which was 2nd to last to get to line up.  The course started by going into a narrow single track down a small hill, and then zig zagging up to a big hill where we picked our bikes up and ran.  I only made 3 loops unfortunately - I landed right after the 1st place man (who lapped me) and they closed the race right behind him so I didn't get to do a 4th loop. 


After my race, we met up with Costa, Holger, and Max (one of the boys' friend from school).  Max, Cole, and Wilson were all prepping to do their first ever race.  They were so very excited - I love seeing them get excited about sports.  They were also all hoping to fall down to get to roll in the mud (which Wilson did often) which I found amusing.  We had Cole and Wilson on balance bikes because their training wheels keep getting stuck in the mud.  They now have a reason to get off the training wheels.

All in, great day, great race, can't wait to go again!  And my knees don't hurt (a plus of cycling over running).


2 comments:

Heather said...

Great work. It was also my second CX race and it was a blast. I had done a 20 mile run on Saturday so my legs were burning the entire race but man what a blast.

I love that my daughter can also see me several times throughout the race - which is much different than running races:)

Glad you had a great time. Fun times ahead:)

FriendlyFox said...

I'm glad to hear there are these events so kids can join in the fun with their bikes. I guess I just need to look further. It'd be great to take my kids to one of these events one day. For now - I'm stuck with writing stories.

I'd like to share one with you, I'm sure your boys would love it. It can be read here: http://foxfan1992.deviantart.com/art/Timothy-s-Adventures-Training-Wheels-and-Mud-293977606
If they want a couple of pictures, there are some provided by some links in the bottom description. :-)

Harry