Author: Dwaine Trummert
The Seattle Cyclocross season has finished its Northern
swing and moved into the South Sound venues starting at Sprinker Park in
Spanaway.
Sunday November 17th was wet and chilly. Fortunately the
temperatures were nowhere near freezing and the rain was only falling
intermittently.
Having honed my pre race ritual by this point in the
season I arrived at exactly 7:15 and commenced with the steps needed to keep my
nerves calm and get my muscles warm. During my pre ride laps I discovered the
course was mostly flat with a fair number of flattish and fastish sections. The
portion of the course that ran through the finish line had a fair amount
of
pavement and fast sweeping corners. On the other side of the park, which fell
about halfway through a lap, was 'the pit'. This feature looked like a sinkhole
with a number of undulations through it. The Seattle Cyclocross folks ran the
tapes in and out of the pit. Up, over, and through a number of the hills and
ditches. This section was decidedly not fast. And the corners were tight and
tricky.
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| Photo by Erik Barrett (Puyallup Cyclopath) |
The soil at Sprinker had a fair number of round rocks.
Most of the course I was happy with my 28/30 psi pressure choice. But I felt my
rear tire bottom out a couple times and upped my pressures to 28/32. This
helped protect my rear rim but did not help my comfort or traction.
The start, 8 riders wide and many rows deep, had the
field funnel between two yellow concrete posts just 100 feet into the race. I
liked the right side due to the first corner being a right hander. But I chose
a center start position to help me get safely past the posts.
I've learned who has been running up front lately and
Kristofer Koehn was the only name I recognized as a previous podium
finisher. By the third turn I was
cleanly in third. By the tenth corner I was happily in second and having no
trouble staying with the leader. But looking over my shoulder entering 'the
pit' I could see that the leader's pace was no trouble for much of the field.
After getting a little tire rub from behind I decided to take charge and set a
higher pace.
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| Photo by Erik Barrett (Puyallup Cyclopath) |
My higher pace started to string the lead group out a
bit. I was pretty happy with the way the race was playing out, though I wasn't totally
happy with my tire pressure choice. My rear tire wasn't hooking up all that
well and I found myself going 'slideways' through a few corners.
Part way through the second lap I saw Koehn in second
place and my lead over him was just 5 seconds. I kept my pace up but also
guarded against getting excited and pushing too hard too early. At the end of
the second lap I watched Kristofer close the gap as we traversed the three
paved 'S' turns that led to the sidewalk and through the final fast sweeper
that put us onto the paved finish straight.
At the next slow section I asked him to set the pace a
while. He did so.
I guessed I was stronger on the technical sections and he
was stronger on the straights. I followed him until 'the pit' and then
attempted to move past. The pass took four turns longer than I had hoped and as
we exited 'the pit' I hadn't gained much gap. At this point I chose 'plan B'.
If we were going to decide this thing at the very end I wanted to be as fresh
as possible. I slowed to a pace that I knew would allow him to catch me before
the finish and would also let me rest. He caught and passed me on a long flat
stretch of dirt path that lead us to the final paved bits.
Although I hadn't closed the deal in the technical
sections of the course I did have a plan. It was my intention to accelerate
hard through the 'S' turns, make the pass on the sidewalk (which was 15 feet
wide), lead through the final righty, and force Kristopher, who I guessed was a
better sprinter, to try to power past in the final 200 yards to the line.
Just before the course changed to pavement I heard him
change to the large chainring. He checked over his shoulder. He saw me tight on
his wheel. We bent left into the first 'S' turn and we both accelerated
smoothly. I was still on his wheel and still cranking as we bent into the
second 'S' turn. This is when I found out the limits of off-road tires on wet
pavement. As I felt the front start to push I eased off the pedals long enough
to regain my line going into the third 'S' turn. I was back on the power
quickly but the pass would not happen on the sidewalk.
While scouting the course these paved sections seemed
wide and their corners seemed gradual. At final lap race pace I was finding the
course treacherously narrow. The final righty was through an open gate and
around some metal barriers that, at these speeds, required single file and no
stray thoughts. Kristofer played it well and my sprint to the finish was not
superior to his.
The RFID scoring system showed that Kristofer took the
win and that the delta was zero seconds.
As I took my cool down lap and replayed the race in my
head I feel that I made a pretty big mistake. Having a plan 'B' was a good
thing.
Resorting to it was not. It is easy for me to get excited
in the moment and push too hard while racing. My thoughts are constantly on my
pace and my respiration rate. In retrospect I'm pretty sure I took it too easy
on the final lap. I've slowly built my cycling engine over the course of this
year. I've also seen just how deep I can push it while Cross racing. If I could
do it again I would have passed the leader _before_ getting to 'the pit', used
my technical skills through the pit, and then metered out everything I had left
for that last half lap.
Kristopher may have had enough to still come past me. I
don't know. But I do think resting on the last lap played to his strengths and
hammering from 'the pit' to the finish would have played to mine.
The next event is at what I consider my home venue. Fort
Steilacoom Park was my introduction to Cyclocross and I hope to see you there.
Editor's Note: fellow Puyallup Cyclopath, Erik Barrett, happened to be watching this race and got pictures of Dwaine during the race (a couple of which are shown above). To see all of the photos, click on the following link: https://picasaweb.google.com/103821724300588557330/2013_11_17DwaineTrummertCXRacingAtSprinkerTacoma#slideshow/5950876694858487058
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