Corcoran Cross

One race down on the books! L. and I had a great day yesterday at the Corcoran cross race. The weather was perfect and the course was mad and dusty. They designed the race around a motocross track, so part of the time riders were going over these large sculpted ramps and jumps that were really fun. There were two tight turns at the bottom of fast hills that were pure gravel, that resulted in several slow speed crashes.

L. Finished the "B" race strong, third place! I finished my first race 45th out of 62 finishers (not sure how many started, I will link to results when they are online). The people I was finishing with seemed about right, so I was happy with my result. I had a great duel with one other rider for the second half of the race after he crashed ahead of me and lost his momentum in the race. I caught him on the run-ups, then he would catch me on the flats, then I would catch him on the run-ups until the very end I was ahead. But, I made a beginners mistake and thought I had one more lap to go when the race was really over just 100 yards ahead of me! He sprinted from behind me to pass, and I let him because I was saving energy for the last lap. By the time I saw the "laps remaining" sign said "zero" it was too late! Ah well, next time.

I managed to stay up the entire time, narrowly missing two pileups - one at the first turn and one on the motocross track (pictured below).

Next race is next Sunday at Theodore Wirth park, my old home turf for cross country skiing. It will be really fun to return again!


That's me in the blue/green jersey in the front of the second pack.














A crash that happened right in front of me on the motocross course.














Me, very tired!