My First Race

[wavedancer]

As my BF said, I had a "deer-in-the-headlights" look when we first arrived to the race at the Coonamessett Farm, but I soon got into the excitement and fun of it all as I pre-rode the course on my mountain bike. My spirits got even more lifted when I saw some friendly faces and chatted with SheFly and Voodoo Sally.

It was a perfect day, sunny, warm...not your usual New England cross season weather, which was fine for me! The beginner women's race was only a 20-minute+ race, which was also perfect for my first time out.

I was very glad I stuck with my mountain bike (good advice from SheFly) because it was evidently more of a mountain-bike-like course than a traditional cross course. The beginner men headed out first, then the beginner women (eight of us), followed by and quickly passed by the Cub Juniors! After the start up the gravel road the course quickly turned into the woods for some fun swoopy singletrack. Mass gridlock occurred on the first lap as we had to squeeze onto a narrow trail with two 90-degree turns around a paddock fence. Everyone got off their bikes to do this part of the trail and the pace slowed down to a crawl.

Things picked up again through some more single track and then to a dismount and run up a steep, loose dirt embankment. I went back later in the day and that embankment had become packed down and riders were mostly riding up and over it without any problems. There was some more single track around some fields, a long loose descent with a turn at the bottom, up and down the blueberry rows, a sand pit and run-up. The two barriers were in a gravel pit in the middle of the beer tent with an audience to show off my hobbling over the barriers and feeble remounting skills!

My only fall occurred when I missed a turn into one of the blueberry rows. Don't know why, just didn't turn the handlebars and toppled over to avoid hitting the enthusiastic spectator banging on a pan!

It was great to have my own cheering fans at different places on the course. SheFly giving me a boost and shouts, a surprise visit from a friend in my local cycling club, and my dear BF cheering me on kept the grin on my face when I was ready to stop and pass out. The race was just three laps of the course, which was about all I could do, but what a blast! Yes, I think I've been bit by the bug :D

[Sheesh]

Congratulations on your first race! Sounds like you had a great time.

A beer tent? We definitely need that feature at our races! :D

[wavedancer]

Yeah, it was pretty cool! People drinking beer, eating from a buffet and cheering riders over the barriers!

[Juligirli]

I'm so excited for you! I will hopefully get to try my first cross race on Sunday and I am so scared!!! It's nice to see that you were smiling afterwards and had a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll see you in some beg races... I'll be in the NEBC kit with the blue redline bike.

Juli

[DirtDiva]

Looks like heaps of fun, and I feel an excuse for a new bike coming on too! :D

[SheFly]

Wavedancer had an excellent race on Saturday! I am so glad to read that you had a good time. She neglected to tell all of you that I waited until AFTER the race to tell her that this was the hardest course she would find in New England for a 'cross race :D . No need to add to her worry beforehand.

DH and I did this race last year, and we loved it! It is very technical - more of a mountain bike course really than something you would find for 'cross. The course runs through a working farm, so besides running between the rows of blueberries, you also pass the donkeys, ducks and alpacas, as well as having to ride up freshly tilled garden rows. This year, to add to the excitement, there was a section of the course that skirted a paddock - the trail was fresh and narrow, with 90 degree turns that had an [electrified] fence on one side, and a tree on the other!

I set off in the Women's Open race later in the day, and it was HOT by then. Despite this not being a USAC-sanctioned race, there were a lot of women lined up at the start to give this one a go. Despite being lined up in the front row, I had a TERRIBLE start up the hill, and then got caught in traffic/crash going into the first narrow singletrack. After that sorted out, we headed for the tight paddock section of the course. Although everyone was able to ride it, the woman who had crashed got very impatient with me for going slower than she would have liked - oh well!

I got passed by a couple of the women in the first couple of laps, and managed to pass one other racer. From there, I was really on my own, riding my own race. When I looked up part way through and saw that we had 5 laps to go, I couldn't believe it - it felt like I had already been riding forever, but in reality, it had only been 30 mins...

I managed to ride the entire sand pit on my first lap, but not once after that. I also quickly started making mistakes - waiting too long to dismount in the sand, and MAJOR issues remounting at the top of the run-up that followed it. I was glad there was often no one up there to see me - it would have been embarrasing.

At one point, a junior racer passed me, and I wondered where he had come from, since I hadn't sen him coming up on me from anywhere. I also thought to myself that he must have picked it up if he had been riding behind me that whole time. It took a half a lap more of riding for me to realize Ihad just been LAPPED :D . DOH! Shortly thereafter, I got lapped by the women's race leader as well - to me, this was great news - one less lap to ride! YAHOO!

AFter either 8 or 9 laps, the race was finally done. Results still aren't posted, but I think I finished somewhere between 10 and 15 of about 20 women. I was excited to find out, however, that I was apparently one of the few who managed to stay upright during the race - I saw bloody elbows and knees, and one of the women managed to crack her helmet on the concrete wall just past the barriers :eek: . She was ok (and raced again the next day).

Thanks to Wavedancer and her BF and friend for the enthusiastic cheering as I came through the beer tent each lap - it did really help!

Lessons learned at this race: I need a better start. Beer is NOT a recovery drink :D .

SheFly

Here's a pic of Wavedancer happily crossing the finish line of her first race:

[SheFly]

I'm so excited for you! I will hopefully get to try my first cross race on Sunday and I am so scared!!! It's nice to see that you were smiling afterwards and had a lot of fun. Hopefully I'll see you in some beg races... I'll be in the NEBC kit with the blue redline bike.

Juli

Don't be scared! 'Cross is really fun, and a lot of women are coming out to give it a try this year. You'll be fine.

I'm hoping to be at Amesbury - we have a wedding in VT on Saturday, so it depends on what time we can make it back... Good luck if I don't see you!

SheFly

[Sheesh]

Lessons learned at this race: I need a better start. Beer is NOT a recovery drink :D .


Some of Mr. Sheesh's teammates swear by beer as the best recovery drink! :D

That does sound like a really technical course, congrats to you both for making it through unscathed!

Re: First-time women racers this year - I was motivated to get a cross bike and try out racing after I watched the womens' races last year. They looked like they were having fun, even though they were working so hard just to finish the course. I was kind of surprised to see only a few of the women returning this year from last year's races. I hope more women stick with it!

[Crankin]

Congratulations, Linda! You are really brave. I have been on my mountain bike exactly once since December.... guess that's why I never improve!

Robyn

[cwodiva]

Great job ladies!! (SHeefly and Wavedancer). I'm soooo jealous over the beer tent!! Sounds like an exciting race and wonderful pictures. I love the smile on your face wavedancer! Don't worry about the fall, if you don't fall at least once during the season it means you aren't going fast enough!

[wavedancer]

Don't worry about the fall, if you don't fall at least once during the season it means you aren't going fast enough!

Going to fast was definitely not the problem! It was one of my Monty Python
slow-motion tumbles that I have been working so hard to perfect over the last year on my mountain bike :p

Juligirl: Have a blast this weekend. I would say "don't be nervous", but I know that's impossible. I do hope to do some more beginner's races, so I'll be looking for you!

Here's a pic of SheFlyin' by after the barriers in the beer tent!

[Drtgirl]

That looks like a really fun and unique course. The barriers in the barn are cool!

[Voodoo Sally]

Great job WaveDancer! And it was great to meet you. And thank you so much for cheering loudly for me (check your PM). And SheFly you sure looked good to me, as in, way ahead! I was counting my place from the back, as in, how many spots from last place am I? I think I got 15th out of 18. I don't usually race in the "A" race! That course was so gnarly and, man, what's with all the hot weather during 'cross this year?! I managed to thoroughly enjoy the farm scenery and stay upright, though. I hung on a lady's wheel for 2 or 3 laps, then she cracked and I never saw her again. I was lapped by about maybe 4 of the leaders in my last or 2nd to last lap.

[RoadRaven]

Whoa! ANOTHER happy camper in cyclocross events
Methinks I have to get out and find an event and watch one...
Maybe I am really missing out on something here...

Most excellent WaveDancer... great report, great sense of humour, great race!!!

WOOHOO!!!