Fairhill B Race (aka Wayne Scott Memorial Cyclocross)

Saturday was the cross race at Fairhill. I raced here last year and got second but made a new friend in the process (Kristy Swope). She beat the crap out of me last year, but I had a great race. In fact, I'd say it was a huge confidence builder going into the final races of the season and eventually leading up to my first cross win in the MABRA. The course this year was very similar to last year's with the exception of the addition of the "heckle hut" with it's barriers and beer kegs. The course maintained it's flow with all the twists and turns and transitions from pavement to gravel to grass to sand. Racers still had to contend with the "ghetto barrier" and the sand pit of doom, but the sand this year was ridable for the most part.

I lined up for the B race second row as usual (I can't seem to get a front row start for anything this year) but I did choose wisely by lining up behind Monkey. She is the fastest starter I know. At the whistle I again surprised myself by getting in my pedal immediately and somehow found myself at the front sitting in 4th. I made a few passes and moved up to 2nd shortly thereafter.

Coming into the set of uphill barriers, Kathrine (Pippy Longstocking) took a wide line so I cut on the inside and made the pass and was now in the lead. This concerned me a bit because I thought it was too soon. I remember last year leading the first lap only to be passed by Kristy in the sand pit and never seeing her again. Besides, I had gone out hard and needed some recovery. At this point, coming up to the line, I sat up ever so slightly and was passed by Katrina. She yelled at me to "come on" but she seriously passed me so fast I could not grab her wheel. As we entered the sand pit I tried to see who was behind me and things were looking good. I was even making some ground up on Katrina but then I bobbled the second turn in the sand pit by running into a C-man that had crashed. Back on the bike I could see Katrina ahead and decided to let her go. She's super-strong and the only chance I had to beat her would be in the technical sections or maybe the fact that she's new to cross and may have misjudged her effort and would tire. Either way, getting beaten by Katrina would be ok. She's too nice.

But sometimes bad things happen to nice people. Coming around the bend approaching the log barrier I saw Katrina get off her bike. I slowed and asked her what happened. She broke her chain. Catastrophic bike failure. Now I was in the lead again by default, but trying to keep up with Katrina had give me a good gap to second so I just couldn't worry about blowing up. I had to go. I rode the rest of the race as fast as I could which in hindsight was pretty stupid. I'm surprised I did not crash myself out of the race. Faticus kept telling me to ride smooth because I must have looked like a maniac out there. In the end I was able to hold the gap and scored my first MAC win.

Thanks to Sonja for all her support in the pits (that is, before the kegs started flowing). Thanks to Faticus for the good luck kiss at the start. Thanks to Anthony for the pics. And thanks to my new coach. As he pointed out, my first day with him and I already won a race. I think he then mumbled something about his work being done. Ha!

Cyclingnews race report and results here.