Claires Report from Sac Cyclocross #8

Yep, I did it. I won a cyclocross race. Now, don�t get too excited. For those of you who know about NorCal Velo�s patented race winning strategies, this will not come as much of a surprise. Now that we�ve managed to recruit Hillary, Cathy, and Allison to duke it out at the UCI races, I can sit back and put our strategy to work: Find out where all the really fast girls will be (Gloucester, Surf City), and go race somewhere else. Of course, this worked.

What with the time change and all, it was no problem to get up in the morning and make the drive to Auburn for Sac Cyclocross. The course was an Condon Park, and what a great course it was. I was in love after one warm-up lap. Lots of running, lots of barriers, fun single-track, and gullies with air to catch on the other side. Plus, everything was perfectly moist and�well�just perfect. It was the kind of course where you can�t help having a good time.

The flag went down and it was me, a junior rider and a couple other women having a fast start. I took the lead and The Kid and I were able to get a good gap on everyone else by the end of the first lap. The Kid was fast. He rode over the log at the beginning of the run-up and rode the run-up. This is where he pulled away from me for the first time. After about 30 minutes of racing, The Kid started to unravel. He was no longer riding the run-up; he was pretty much dragging his bike by the front wheel. I may be exaggerating/improving the truth a bit here, but you could see that he needed a second wind. When it came, he blew by me on the super fast descent and caught the air that was on offer. His BMX buddies cheered! Go Kid! Don�t let that old lady get in your way! So that was it. He was gone and a couple laps later it was over. But I was the first woman! I won! He he. I�m not sure who placed right after me, but it could have been the girl in the Full Funky Chicken Suit, or the one dressed up as the One-Eyed Purple People Eater.

In any case, I had a great drive home, practicing my Napolean Dynamite impersonations: �You caught, like, three feet of air that time!�

-Claire

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