Well, Starcross was quite the production this year! Went down with Cressman and we decided to leave at 10:15 to get there for a 5:00 pm race. Well, given that our dollar is worth as much as the greenback everyone had to go shopping on Saturday. Now I know this has nothing to do with Cross, but humour me. The dollar has been floating around parity for months now, almost 3 months. The difference on a 1000.00 purchase would be 50.00, compared to a month ago? That is worth sitting in line at the boarder for 2-3 hours? Anyhow, back to Starcross. Our boarder delay was not too bad, but it was still 2 hours. Cressman is an interesting cat, so we chatted about a big range of stuff and generally solved the world’s biggest issues on the way down to Redmond.
We get there and we try to get kitted up and hit the course for a quick lap prior to the start of the master B’s race. No dice we go 150 metres and they announce the B’s have started. There are some guys from the Vancouver area in the race and I can tell they are doing well and sure enough, one of the guys that I race with and with whom I battle back and forth with wins, handily I might add. That is cool, but perhaps he should be racing with the Men ½ (actually he did the next day’s race and killed it for a top 10)
I manage to get on quick lap in prior to the start of my race and do most of it with Christian Huele, he is the number 5 ranked rider in the world and reigning Swiss champ. Funny in warm up he was no faster than me? Get to the start area and I get a second row start. I line up against multiple US National Champion Rich Feldman. We chat about how nice his carbon Colnago cross bike is and that would be the last I ever saw of him because he tore everyone’s legs off and killed EVERYONE!
My race was interesting as I got a pretty good start, but burned off a lot of matches to stay up near the front. I was riding pretty comfortable, but the pace was brisk to say the least. I was hurting right from the start and I knew that the course was bumpy, but man was it bumpy. I just had a hard time really getting consistent on that track. I really like the track, but there are a lot of changes of pace, I prefer something a bit less up and down in terms of effort. Having said that we are all racing the same course and all have to battle the same elements. For the first 3 laps I ride well keeping it in the top 15, but on about lap four I come around a 180 on the pavement and too hot and actually slide out and slide in to the only puddle on the course. So, now I am the only guy who is riding wet on the course. A few guys got by me after that as it took me a few minutes to get my sh!t collected, but once I did I made back some guys. Then I started getting stomach cramps by being bounced around like crazy. I must have had too much liquid in my stomach. For a while there I thought about bailing. Guys were sitting on me and then coming around me after and I was having a hard time staying with them and then I would end up between groups. With 3 to go (I think it is all a bit of a blur) I was counted by the UCI official as 21. I held that within 3-4 places I believe.
Not a great day, but a great venue that just punishes me. Starcross is the type of course that will point out your strengths and weakness really quick. I think that is why I love it so much.
In the women’s race, Kelly Jones from Vancouver rode an amazing race staying with the lead group of Wendy Williams, Wendy Simms (also from BC) and Rachael Lloyd to finish an amazing 6th place. Right there the whole time, but came up short in last 1000 metres of the race. Nice to see.
Men’s race. Too many highlights to list. Kabush rolls his tire early and does not have a bike or wheels so he makes his way to the barriers where the beer garden is and downs 4 beers!!! Then steps off the course. The guy is all class. If you can’t represent your sponsors by racing fast, then do it by drinking with the fans. Chris Sheppard raced after serving out his 2-year suspension for EPO use and finished 7th starting from the back and bringing back a pretty elite group of men. He raced strong and I would have presumed clean, let’s hope that never changes. Then there was the Trebon, Wicks and Huele story. The 3 big men off the front. The 2 Kona boys tried to lay wood to him, but he never looked like he was breathing. I think it takes more than the twin towers to bring down a guy like Huele. He played it perfect, by getting position on the Treefarm in the last corner and winning the sprint. Wicknasty tried the sweetest move, he came up high on the velodrome and dropped in passing Huele and Trebon re-entering the infield, it got away on him as he was too hot for the corner and stacked it. Then he chased back to the 2 leaders.
A lot of guys raced the next day in Seattle, but not me. We got home at about 1:00 am and I just chilled with the family.