U.S. Grand Prix of Cyclocross #1 Planet Bike Cup

Prologue

Going into this past weekend I was super fired up for the start of the CX season. The Planet Bike Cup is the first stop on the U.S. Grand Prix of cyclocross circuit, and is a well organized and super competitive event. Add to that the fact that it’s held just outside of my beloved Madison, WI and you have all of the making s of a great race weekend. I winged in to Madison on Friday evening directly from Orlando where I had been all week for work, and was greeted by beautiful cool fall weather. We received a little rain over night, but upon arrival at the venue the course appeared to be in good shape and there was nothing but cool blue sky and sunshine in abundance.

Day 1 USGP Category 2/3 race

After a slightly rushed warm up I headed to the staging area to prepare for my call up. Call ups are managed by order of registration at the Planet Bike Cup so you have to be on the ball and know when registration opens to get a good spot in the starting grid. While I registered within 30 minutes or so of the opening of registration, I still got stuck about 5 rows back from the line. While not disastrous, it’s certainly a disadvantage to be starting that far back. Luckily I wasn’t one of those poor suckers who was stuck at the back!

The field size was just shy of 100, and the adrenaline was running high as we prepared for the start. The start of cyclocross races are normally a pretty frantic and chaotic affair, but in a field size this big, full of fit and skilled riders, it becomes even more nuts. Some guys up front inevitably have trouble clipping in, while others come roaring up from poor starting positions in the rear trying to weasel or bully their way to the front. Occasionally people touch wheels or crash and ensnare those around them. As the gun fired , the sounds of pedal stomping, drivetrains engaging , and rubber being laid to pavement filled the air as we collectively leapt forward. I managed to hold my position reasonably well during the opening scrum and started moving up on the outside as we flew down the long power section leading into the first barrier section. I swung wide and picked my line as we turned toward the barriers and then before I knew it I was on the ground looking at the rider behind me turn his bike sideways just soon enough to avoid riding over my face. Phew. I got back up quickly and started to run the bike over the barriers. When I got to the other side I hopped back on intent on pulling back those spots I’d lost. It was then I realized that my chain had derailed. Doh! I got off and pulled far over to the side and fumbled around briefly popping it back on. While it didn’t take a huge amount of time to fix my chain, the fact that the crash occurred so early in the race ensured that I was screwed. NOW, I WAS one of those poor suckers who was stuck at the back!

Luckily there is a fair amount of room to move on this course, and I set forth from that point with the intent to do as well as I could under the circumstances. I rode about as hard as I could for the rest of the race and pulled back every rider in my sights. Aside from that initial costly mistake, I rode the rest of the race without incident and was able to move from dead last up to 29^th by the end of the race. It wasn’t exactly the result I had hoped for, but not a bad one all things considered. If nothing else it’s good to gain experience in big race situations. After the race we hung around to drink a few beers and watch the pro races. I got the chance to help out one of the local riders and watch the goings on in the wheel/bike pit, while one of my friends race d to a 30^th place finish in his first cat 1/UCI elite CX race. Pretty cool!

As we headed home to rest up and chow down on some dinner, I looked at the weather forecast for Sunday. The weatherman promised that conditions for CX racing would be EPIC, and indeed they were…(to be continued)