http://www.renowheelmen.org/cross/sagebrush/2008/2008RenoCX.pdf

On Thursday, I began looking around to see if there was a cyclocross race coming up on the weekend in the Sparks/Reno area. It turned out that the Reno Wheelman were having a race right down the street, in fact in a park right near where I had been riding my road bike up hill climbs for the last few days. Wow, that looked like a very convenient opportunity.

I wanted to try out my former road bike that had 32 mm tires and strong rims on it, to see if it could handle the soft sands (and maybe mud) found on the cyclocross course. The only problem was that the weather was changing. The high was eighty degrees on Wednesday, but it was supposed to be in the lower forties on Saturday with 80% chance of snow showers on Friday.

And sure enough it snowed and snowed more on Friday and Friday night, but it didn't stick for long, making it seem like I would find mud on the track on Saturday.

On Saturday morning it was bitterly cold (for me anyway) and I wasn't sure I wanted to go out and race. But I thought that I would at least go out and check out the track if Belinda would drive me over, as it was too cold to bike over there.

The track was tougher than the last one in Victor, Idaho a few weeks back, with lots of climbs as well as a fast downhill single track. I ran through the course to see if my Davidson could handle the sand and turns. In the last race I had ridden my mountain bike, but I felt that my former road bike should be able to be turned into a nice little cyclocross bike and they were encouraging anyone with any kind of bike to join in the fun.

Sure enough there was no mud and while the sand was deep and required a bit of off the bike running to get through, the Davidson handled it just fine. I was ready to join in the fun.

This time I got to join in with the "C" class riders in the first race and it was great fun to have that extra push that keep me riding hard. I didn't finish last, didn't fall down, and finished the race with enough energy to keep going. It was half an hour on the track and I only got lapped by the first two finishers. A guy riding a single speed bike won the race in the last bit of the race.

Easy, fun, not embarrassing. Just like hang gliding competition. Come on in and join in the fun.

The next racethat I could attend (and there are plenty around) is in San Francisco next weekend. I doubt that I can make it.