Texas Cyclocross Massacre

Tis the season for cross. The training levels are down, and I am only now beginning the long base training for the next road season (which begins in a short 4 months). I decided I needed to feed my competitive nature and show up for some cyclocross fun, wait a minute who in their right mind calls cross fun. It's one hour of pure agony where all you want to do is quit. My body still aches, as I limped into work this morning hoping my back pain lessens. I want to slap the man who decided it would be fun to take a road bike and race it off road, and then make tired souls hop of their bikes to hurdle barricades. Saturday, after deciding to sleep in I hopped in the car with a team mate and drove over to Dallas to enter in the B race. Maybe a bit over my head as I have only done 3 cross races ever prior to this. Oops, oh well. I didn't care about results, only that I finished and got a good workout. Well that didn't happen. Half way into the first lap I pinch flatted and had to walk back to the start\finish line. A friend kindly gave me another wheel so I could continue to suffer. After about another half hour I was cruising down one of the few level straight areas of the course when I hear a horrible metal on metal clanking sound and feel my rear wheel lock up. Upon looking back I am stunned to see my rear derailleur lodged in the wheel . I then had the pleasure of walking my bike back to the start\finish area again, this time I was allow to call it quits. See the photos of the carnage. See the photos from the race.


Sunday: Thank goodness for being sponsored by a bike shop. I was able to bring it in and have all of the damage (Bent Rim, Bent Spoke, Broken derailleur hanger, 2 broken derailleur pulley wheels) fixed in short order so I was able to hurt myself again today. We showed up again in Dallas at a different course, more to my liking. Half way into the first lap (yes again) I found myself behind a crash that split the group. I knew I was going to be in the hurt locker bad today. So I just put my head down and suffered. Sometime in I was hopping over some barricades when I rolled my right ankle slightly, not bad enough to make me quit so I kept pushing the tempo. Things were going fine except for the crazy pain my lower back was in. Until....the last lap where I came through a wash out section of single track that I had successfully ridden many time before. The two sides of the track were rutted and washed away, you had to keep on the center line to make it through. Well I hit it dead on but let my front wheel slide out and went down hard on my right knee. Lucky me there was a photo man there to capture the entire show. As my face was getting an extreme close up of the dirt I could see the flash going off, and the dude asking me "Are you ok?". My only response at the time was "Only if you got a good shot, cause I am not doing a second take." I proceeded to get moving again, but my knee was swelling fast and by the end of the lap pushing the pedals around was a tough task.

I hate cyclocross, but I guess I will be heading out to the races again when they come to Ft Worth in a few weeks time. I am a glutton for punishment.

-Chris