This past weekends Red Barn CX race didn't end up being the challenging course I was wishfully anticipating. But my funk shouldn't bring down what was otherwise a great event enjoyed by a great many others with a big turnout (approx 200 racers)and post Halloween costume festivities.
A cyclo-cross course that traversed sections of a christmas tree farm, that made the occasional jump out to a gravel road, and some dirt trails. What it lacked in a smooth flow, it made up for in straightaways and sharp corners.
Arriving late to the course from some misdirections (note - Google maps on MN cycling federation get you to the city, not the site unfortunately) from Northern Wisconsin, I got in a short warmup before heading up to the startline. Nice big group of 40+ in the A race (Cat 1,2 & Masters) -- wide starting line created the need for the big group to whittle down quickly as the course narrowed within a few hundred yards. I settled in somewhere in front third may have been higher prior to be shuffled into a tree.
Alot of times there's some interesting race dynamics to share, but this course and the playout of the race didn't make for alot. The first 3 laps where pretty hard, riding the Gary Fisher SuperFly with 1.75" Bont Dry X's -- I had a breeze with the cornering but the straightaways & lack of other terrain made for a much harder effort to stick with the really skinny tire boys.
I remember coming through seeing the 7 laps to go sign & hoping somehow things would get more interesting. The mid laps had about a half dozen riders, including Harry Anderson of Duluth get by me, however a group of two other racers (Chris "push him out of tree" Smith & Jake "stormtrooper" Helmbrecht) caught up with me it proved to be group that stuck together. Eventually recatching a number a riders that had passed me after lap 3 and only Brian Koeneman of those stuck with us. For the longest time John Thompson hung out there just infront of us, but hats off to the guy as he held us off for the last 3 or 4 laps.
It wasn't a race that I had a good drive for -- mishaps or problem areas came up. An early lap hard remount angled my seat up, a dropped chain on the next to final lap, a slide out in a corner and one christmas tree that attacked me leaving me bruised and bloody were part of it. But mostly I couldn't get into the groove of the course. I take absolutely nothing away from the likes of others that enjoyed it, I'm happy for them. I just found it to be alittle... well, boring. And I don't think I've ever said that about a race course. It had almost zero ripples to the terrain. Yes, it had one run up area but no rollers or hills to speak of. The corners are always up to a race designers layout, but it often felt somewhat like being stuck in rushhour traffic with stoplights that are always on red every couple blocks. Which after awhile I was wondering the sense of pushing hard throughout if the gaps were going to close on the corners anyways?
I've certainly had better races and placed ahead of riders much higher on the list today, but among other things I couldn't uncork that 5th & final gear that's helped me most of the season. The added drag of the MTB was most noticeable for a course like this. Which brings up the interesting dynamics of how different cycles handle different terrain. So, Red Barn with it's smooth course -- stick with the skinny's.
Beautiful weather, sunny & warm couldn't have been a better day. Got back to Ashland in time for a birthday party and was left to comtemplate going to Milaca's 'cross race on Sunday....
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