Cyclocross - Santa Rosa Monkey Cross #1 report

[jdubble]

Most of the course details I try to get during the warmup laps.

During the race, I can't even remember where neutral support is, so...

-- gnat!

warmup laps. i think i've done one of those, once. i usually have the small monkeys with me, so i'm lucky if i get to warm up by doing a few loops around the parking lot or 15 minutes on the trainer. Sometimes it's just nervouse pacing from the tent to the portapotty!

but i once again successfully placed right smack dab in the middle of the muddy pack yesterday - 40 out of 80 beginner women at Cross Crusade #4 finishing is winning for me this year!

i'm gonna pay more attention next time though, and try to write up a report afterwards. you've inspired me!



(i'm 2nd from the right)

[maillotpois]

Great report - well done!

[gnat23]

AWESOME pic, jdubble! I've heard those Cross Crusade races are absolutely *legendary*, I'd really like to take a field trip up sometime and try one!

Might head up for Cross Nationals just to check THAT out, at least! Will ring cowbell very vigorously.

-- gnat!

[SheFly]

Yay, Gnat! What were you riding for a SS? I have a Kona SS cross bike that I love, and I raced it twice last season. Didn't hurt much against the geared girls, except in the final sprint .

We have a hard enough time convincing promoters here to have a spearate women's masters field, never mind a SS category!

Nice job.

SheFly

[OakLeaf]

Woot woot! Way to go gnat and jdub! You both rock.

[gnat23]

Yay, Gnat! What were you riding for a SS? I have a Kona SS cross bike that I love, and I raced it twice last season. Didn't hurt much against the geared girls, except in the final sprint .

We have a hard enough time convincing promoters here to have a spearate women's masters field, never mind a SS category!

I rock a Specialized Tricross (singlecross) with a pink BMX chain and a sticker that says "If you ride a single speed and nobody sees you, is it still cool?"

My first series of races I took it too were pretty hilly and didn't have a women's singlespeed category, so I started with the geared girls and finished DFL a bunch of times. The other option was to race with the Men's SS B's, but, you know, that also hurts the self-esteem. Now I have another crossbike (with gears!) so I can kick booties on even turf.

Every time a race *does* have a women's SS category, I gotta represent to encourage it to keep going. I wish I could do both geared and SS races, but typically they're at the same time as the other women's races.

We had a nice long conversation, the other SS women and me, about whether to gear for the climbs and spin out on the flats, or to gear for the flats and run the climbs.

-- gnat!

[jdubble]

AWESOME pic, jdubble! I've heard those Cross Crusade races are absolutely *legendary*, I'd really like to take a field trip up sometime and try one!

Might head up for Cross Nationals just to check THAT out, at least! Will ring cowbell very vigorously.

-- gnat!

The Crusade races are amazingly fun and HUGE. Mac rode Master C 35+ and there were like 215 people in his field this weekend. You should definitely field trip up here. I'd like to field trip down your way for the race in GGP next month! I wish I'd known about that when I lived 2 blocks away from GGP 5 years ago. Of course that was well before CX was even on my radar.

I think we're planning on heading to Bend for Nationals too - let me know if you do come up and we can ring cowbells and eat frites together