grnmtncrossso, Emily was right. My first cyclocross race was not nearly as scary as anticipated. In fact, I would go so far to say it was fun. It was like all the best parts of Wednesday Night Worlds without the sucky, hard parts and with a whole bunch of competition to keep it exciting the whole time.

George, K and I went over to Catamount on Saturday afternoon and watched the Elite Men’s race unfold. We had a lovely view spot in the field, a six-pack and some snacks. We hung out, chatted and I watched the guys fly around the course. No chance for a warm up ride though.

Sunday I went over there solo. Did a warm up lap on the course, there was nothing frightening or difficult about it. A couple of steep pitches, sharp turns, and low grade climbs made the course interesting. The barriers didn’t seem like a big deal.

The call ups were certainly different than your normal mountain bike race. I was in the way back, right next to a very nice woman I met while warming up who clued me into a few things. The start went fine, I passed a few off the line and was very amused when we went into the first sharp turn, steep climb combo – a whole bunch of women totally failed and had to get off their bikes. I was not accustomed to some of the race tactics and blocking that must come from the roadie side of the sport. Obviously I had no idea, and when you’re racing for 17th place – why do you have to be a dick?

Anyway, it was 30 minutes of fast riding and felt really fun. I didn’t stick around to see the results, and they’re not on the web yet but I’m guessing I came in towards the back of the pack. (ETA – I made 28 out of 36. sounds good to me) I’ll totally do another, though there aren’t a lot of cross races in our neck of the woods.