Race Report: Belltown CX and the Enchanted Forest

Cyclocross

Oct 3

I was not up early. I actually slept in compared to my work week alarm. I had taken advantage of work flexibility and the 4pm Friday pre-ride window. I was already 20 minutes from the start line when the 5:30 am alarm went off. After 6 or so pre-ride laps on the course the night before, I decided to use my time focusing on practicing remounts where they’d be required. This would be my 3rd cross race ever, my second cross race of my first real cross season, and the first representing my new team, To Be Determined. I was determined to be as prepared as I could be.

The morning started out cool, but as soon as the sun hit, I knew the noon time start was going to be warm. I tried to be mindful of my hydration and food intake, lest the missing hashbrown from my early morning McDonald’s order haunt me mid race, wanting for carbs. The parking lot was busy, teammates slowly trickled in along with others from the greater NYC community. The morning quickly disappeared between chatter about other races, the latest USAC trans exclusionary policy changes, features of the course, and a bit more pre-ride time.

In no time at all, I was headed for the race staging. After quibbling between the promoter and the race official about how the field could line up, the other racers for the Enby field and I were situated on the back row behind the Junior racers. Almost immediately out of the gate, we had a crash right in front of me. I got clipped out and spared the rider much of an impact from me and my bike. The crash put me at the back of the already backend of the race. I was chasing on like so many of my other races. With the field setup, I immediately hit more traffic at the first power hill, and unclipped again. After confidently clearing the two dry stream crossings, I made use of my power and two straight sections to recover ground. I was already up a number of places coming out of the next single track, and then in my rookie haste, I made my first mistake.

Coming out of the woods into the straight towards the barriers, I rode to the left in open, but not clear cut space to pass a ride. Suddenly, the bike snatched and I was tumbling forward and sideways in a sort of summersault with the bike. My right shoulder seemed to take most of the impact, and concerns for broken bones were immediately on my mind. When my body came to rest, I found myself springing from the ground to get the bike. Nothing screamed at me, outside of the spectators and a scrape on my forearm. I was determined to keep going.

The next section of course featured some twisty turns, minor off camber, and a fast downhill single track into a fast straight. I knew this was the recovery zone before the real pulse raisers to come. Bubble Cross featured a beach, but with the rain before the race, that sand was reasonably firm at my race time, and I had felt a bit like The Sand Master, Laurens Sweeck. Belltown did not treat me to the same confidence boost. The 8 inch deep loose beach head with a nice right hander into looser sand felt like too much to chance a bad mid feature dismount. I ran the whole thing. I am not a runner, but in those traversals of the loose sand, I felt like my off bike work and pro cx tv spectating was paying off. I was not slow through the sand, but I sure couldn't remount with any momentum after.

If the beach running wasnt enough to spike my HR, the steep run up that came two turns later sure would. At about 20 ft up, I shouldered the bike, looked for the existing foot holes, and used the tips the cat 5 men’s podium finisher foisted onto me earlier. I leaned into the hill a bit and did my best impression of digging my toes in through my custom insoles and rubber coated carbon soles. I was fully making up ground here. My long dancer’s legs made quick work of the hill, and then off to the next slow remount.

After the run up, I found myself faced with the same kind of sharp inward downhill off camber turns that had scared me at Bubble Cross. Fortunately, one of the kind female racers of Stage 1 cycling (hosts), had let me follow on a Friday pre-ride lap through this section. I had watched her move her body, and did my best impressions there after. I felt better out of the saddle to take the turns. I made it through both of the back to back turns without incident even through my most tired laps.

After a quick jaunt through “the enchanted forest”, I was on the last bits of “flat” straight course to the finish line. Being on a gravel bike with 2x, I made full use of my gears to cover even more lost ground in this and the subsequent laps. By this point, I was looking for my competition. A field of 5 is easy to lose track of on a course like Belltown II, but luck was in my favor, and color choice. Menace Cycling made up the bulk of the field and the beautiful pink and purple kits stood out amongst the more drab colors doting the grassy fields. I knew I had overtaken P4 somewhere in lap one, and now to chase down the new friends I made in the parking lot and on the line.

As the race wore on, and my heart rate stayed higher than almost anything I do this late into a training season, the details started to blur some. Somewhere in laps 2 and 3 I over took the first of the three Menace riders. But that pass was not to stick. Somewhere in here, I made my second mistake, and right in front of one of the other Menace riders who wasnt racing, and had taken to cheering me from the sides. A tight turn, maybe a bit too much lean, or maybe a bit too early power, and I was back at my first race. A repeat of the same wheel slip in the same turn direction. The wheel came from under me and I crashed to my hip in the soft grass. This one didnt concern me physically as much. A few obscenities and I was pushing off to keep the chase on. Eventually, I over took P3, and made my chase for P2. At some point, I found P2, made the pass, and felt good that I could make the pass stick. I was off for P1.

The chase was not easy. P1 would come in and out of view. Each feature that played to my strengths would bring the rider closer, and each slow remount would let the gap go back out. I made another field pass out of the beach front and up to the run up. I made good time on the run up, and then the efforts started to kick. I had already felt the dehydration coming towards the end of lap 3. I could feel the fatigue in my hip flexors. I am not a runner, but I knew I needed to get my knees up on that beach in the sand. Maybe it was the running, maybe it was the last minute saddle adjustment, or maybe it was my HR being in Tempo or Threshold for the whole race, but my legs were trying to give out. I got up the last power hill and took the off camber turns with more delicacy.

The enchanted forest loomed, and I knew I wasnt far from home. I had lost P1 at this point, but knew I could still hold a high field finish. I had passed so many riders over the course of the race. I wanted to make the best of that. Not sure if it was my senses, or someone from the crowd, but I realized the rider I passed was on my tail. I hit the big gear, looked for the corner to block the inside from her, and smashed every watt I had. I flew forward. The last two turns were sweeping enough that I could mostly keep the gas on through them. Cheered on by the NYC community, I popped out to the line with a solid gap for 2nd in the Non-Binary category, and 4th for the field of 28 racers.

For my 3rd cross race ever, Im stoked on this result. I was Determined to keep going. Im stoked on the vibes of the event. Be it the gracious hosts of Stage 1 who were friendly at pre-ride and day of, the welcoming NYC cross community, the awesome humans from Menace Cycling that made friends with me on the day, my new teammates who showed support and got me kitted up immediately. Im also thankful for the race promoter, Jake, who was willing to talk about the plans for next year in light of the trans women exclusionary policies being put into place. It gave me hope there will be varying opportunities to race where I feel most comfortable as my cross career continues.