Race Report: Cross Crusade #6, Washington County Fairgrounds

Even less to report than usual this week despite this being my third-best race ever by percentile finish. 11 of 163, and I’m at least 10th in the Cross Crusade series.

Weather was (finally!) autumnal. Cool and damp, but not raining. Orion had a birthday party to attend so I went stag. I rode the 18mi to the race — roughly along my old commute route to Hillsboro. Riding to the race tends to be a good warmup for me, and not having the family on hand lowers some of the pre- an post-race stress. (But: balanced against not having my phenomenal cheering section.)

I had absolutely no preride. The course was unsurprising. Lead with a looooong straightaway that sorted the field, pushed me back ten places and pulled a lot of fast guys forward. Then into a huge maze of switchbacks west of the barns, with very little opportunity (for me) to pass. Resolution for 2014: better cornering.

I picked off two of my rabbits and handily beat a long-time nemesis. Came nowhere near to catching Thom, who finished seventh about 20sec ahead of me. If he hadn’t skipped a bunch of races early in October he’d be beating me in both series (GPET and Cross Crusade), and the cyclocross BAR

Equipment note

On my ride to the race, I seldom dropped onto my 12T cog, despite having many long windups on pavement (example: Jenkins Road). I should swap in a 38T chainring, before this weekend if at all possible.