Cyclo-cross! More Mud, More Sand.

It’s fall. It’s cold. It’s raining, nope never mind, it’s snowing. Yet we all dream of racing cyclo-cross.

Well, yes, it’s a grand old time! Slaying the grassy turns. Bombing into mud at full speed. Everything you could possibly want comes from cyclo-cross – minus single track...

It all started at the Real Deal Tuesday night cross series in Horseshoe Valley. There the races consisted of Will Elliott, Adam Jamieson, Andrew Watson and a few others. It was a grand time, on a very challenging course.

Next I moved into the S-Cup series, hitting up the Real Deal Horseshoe race and winning it. 

Then onto the Angry Johnny’s Albion Cross race where there was some crazy stuff that went down. The boys, or the kangaroos, were jumping the barriers and I was having trouble keeping up. So, smart me decided I would try to hop the barrier for the first time with no practice. Yea, I went head over heels. Getting back up I noticed my rear rim was warped; a quick unhooking of the rear brake two laps later and I rode in an easy 3^rd.

Then Hardwood Ski and Bike's cross race was awesome! Taking the "W" there was a difficult one! The course was exceptionally challenging and posed multiple show-stopping technical areas. A solid ride indeed.

Next up was cyclo-cross provincials. Wow! That was some craziness. A nice course in the Barrie Sporting Complex. It was completely flat and bumpy, but the mud hole...made my day. Six to eight inches of sludge, you had no choice but to just blast right through it. 

It started out with the five of us: Adam, Will, Tyler, Conner and I. After the first lap, I got a little bit of a lead. Will managed to join me a lap or so later and we worked together to pull away from the group. Riding together and taking turns to pull – usually unwillingly – we had some upsets. Will managed to trip up on my rear wheel and I heard him squeak – he was going over. After yelling sorry, I took off. There was still a lot of race left and I was not confident with riding alone the whole time, thus I did not drop the hammer. Once Will had rejoined we were sitting at two laps to go. Through the mud again uneventfully, we were hauling.

And then it happened...

We came around one of the turns and Will pulled out to the side to let me lead. Well, it just so happened I was half-wheeling slightly and I ate it. This was 1.5 laps to go. It took me the better half of the last lap to catch up. Then I sat in until the mud. I excelled at the stairs – they were a lot of fun. I blasted every straight stretch that offered good passing potential. Then there was the final straight. This was the only part where being in front could pose an issue. I wasn’t about to give a lead out so I hit it! A solid sprint across the finish line with Will about five feet behind me.

Provincial Champion Title was attained!

Off to nationals in Vancouver in less than two weeks. Let’s hope we have a repeat of provincials!