Lion of Fairfax Cyclocross

Cyclocross sounded like this great idea about four or five months ago when I talked to Heather C. about our plans for the fall. I, true to form, was easily coaxed into riding bikes and thought, I'll have enough time to prepare myself by September. I spent my summer riding my cross bike, running, etc, then went to all of Dan's cyclocross clinics, went on rides with Heather and Gabe... I was pumped and totally excited. Then we went to Fairfax.

Heather and I carpooled down and, despite her efforts to keep me positive, I thought I was going to toss my cookies right there. We registered, got ready, and headed to the course. We were able to map out each section, and pre-ride the whole thing. Thank God. The course was crazy - lots of run-ups, weird technical sections, and one super-steep downhill which made Heather and I question what we had gotten ourselves into.  Meanwhile, the temperature was climbing and had reached the high 90s by the time we were lining up to start.  Here I was, overheated and nervous, scared to death, and Rachel Lloyd comes past me to line up with the "A" women. Nice, really nice. That's all I need, a professional cross racer to be anywhere near me for the next 40 minutes. She smiled and waved, recognized me from Claire's development camp. I can't decide if this is a good or bad thing because now, when she laps me over and over, she will have a name to associate with sheer defeat. Good positive self-talk, huh?

The race starts and immediately all of that goes out the window, I completely got in the zone. Dismounts went great, run-ups were smooth, and I am stoked. Then I get the chills, the clear sign of dehydration. I couldn't stop though, I was determined to at least finish. The best part was all of the people there watching, cheering, keeping us motivated to plow through this pretty technical course. Tanya definitely deserves some credit for that as she was there, rooting us on. Thanks to Dan, as well, for passing water bottles to Heather and I throughout the race - much appreciated. I did, in the end, get lapped by Rachel (well, obviously...) but finished pretty strong considering that I was seeing small spots and losing my mind in the heat.

Heather, however - WON OUR CATEGORY! She is such a stud...

I have to say, of all of the races I have ever been in, it was the most fun I've had. Even though I wasn't going super fast or having my most stellar athletic performance to date, I was smiling the whole time. I was sad when Heather and I parted ways because I didn't want my first day of cross racing to be over. I can't wait to race on Saturday at the Bikemonkey series and I hope to see everyone there!!

Thanks for reading!!

-Alexis
******

The Lion of Fairfax race was a rush for me.  I started off my morning feeling rested after having ridden hard at the beginning of the week and resting two days prior.  Sun, coffee, and good conversations with Alexis in the car started my morning off right.  I felt anxious with this being only my second official cyclocross race ever, but confident in my fitness and skills after having worked hard in the DFL crossdresser race series and Dan's clinics earlier in the month. 
 
Once we arrived and registered, Alexis and I pre-rode the course to find that it was not flat and kind of all over the place!  It was set up on elementary school grounds, a mix of concrete sidewalk, soccer field grass, and gnarly hard-pack dirt trails behind the school.  Off camber turns and run-ups as well!!  We did what we could in the amount of time we had, and I made a pact to myself to ride what I could and practice my dismounts and run-ups if I doubted that I couldn't clean a section of trail during the race.  Keep the rubber side down.
 
So alas, the race started and I instantly felt like a kid in a candy store.  With powerful feeling legs and a fun course ahead of me, I smiled and raced my heart out with a big dorky grin the first lap!  Then, after getting in the groove I pushed myself as hard as I could and found myself battling with one Organic Athlete woman for the last 3 laps.  She would beat me up a run up, and then I would pass her on an off-camber turn.  I started to speculate that she was a roadie, so I planned to attack her on one technical section and try to pass her once and for all.  And it worked!! I won the women's C category and beat my competitor (who was apparently an A).  Alexis had a great first cross race and finished a solid 6th!
 
What a day!  I couldn't have done it without the support of Dan Harting passing me water on the course and Alexis for being so positive and energetic before the race!  Thanks for reading,
 
Heather

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