Last year I raced the "C" race, as my second cyclocross race, this year, I thought I'd try the B race. As a result of having no MAC series points, and waiting until late to register, I was seeded 8 rows back out of 12 rows in a large field of about 100 riders. I didn't have high expectations for the race, but decided to just try and race as hard as I could, and see where I ended up.
The start was a huge congested cluster of racers all trying to pass early, especially before the first time through the "Omega" thing. I was disappointed to see that the organizers had removed the "crop circle' thing from last year, it was a unique feature to this race. Going through the tight turns of the Omega was so congested that the inside line came to almost a complete stand still, and many people had to dismount. Finally we got through, but the lines were so spread out, the back of the field was far, far, away from the front.
Picture after the barriers.
The rocky section was sort of frightening, flying down at high speed, and hitting a boulder field while trying to turn and feeling the bike sliding all over the place. I definitely bottomed out several times HARD, but thankfully the tubeless arrangement held up. I think many of the DNF'ers were probably due to flats on some of these tough spots.
Rolled in at 43rd out of 74 finishers. Apparently, the winner of the race (bib #363) was staged on my same row (bib #360)! So no excuses....
Really looking forward to our home race the next week, the hill is going to be tough...
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