PACC Crossfire Cup - Round 4 - 3rd August

Final round of the winter CX series saw us return to the enchanted forest of doom.

Recent rains meant that the surface was fairly damp and slippery, and was overgrown with onion weed and the like, providing a slippery, slimy and somewhat pungent racing surface. Apart from the forest, there were some nice flowing sections, with very few tight bends.

As usual I had signed up for B grade, which seemed to have a nice sized turn out. A work colleague from our Brisbane office (Jeremy) had made the trip down for our work mid-year dinner and brought his bike. Turns out that he's an old hand at CX having organised his own CX series in Kansas since the mid 90's.

Jeremy and I pre-race (photo c/V Riches)

I sat beside the finish line prior to my event and watched some fantastic racing in C grade where there were a few sprint finishes, while simultaneously trying to keep out of the icy wind that was sweeping through the course.

I rolled up to the start area with Jeremy, and sat waiting for the start in the freezing winds which were unbuffered by trees of any sort.

The whistle went and we headed off to the forest for the first time. On arrival we found that the conditions were significantly worse than in practice due to the MTB riders in the previous race chewing up the surface, which meant there was a lot of slipping and sliding. This only got worse as the race progressed. The first lap provided the usual sorting of riders, with the fast guys blasting off to the front while the slower guys like myself slowly filtered to the rear of the field.

Laps 1 and 2,  I was in a 4 way battle, which was sort of nice for once! I was second in line of 3 riders, with a 4th rider hanging out the front. Mid way through the 3rd lap I made a pass stick, but then immediately realised my mistake when I found myself on the front of my group, riding into a pretty fair head wind. I hung on until the forest though and had the next guy in my sights who looked to be slowing a bit. End of the third lap and I was figuring that catching and passing the next guy was a certainty the next lap.

Post crash, and feeling the sting of lost skin
(photo c/V Riches)

Spurred on by a few cheers on the sidelines as I crossed the line,  I pushed harder to try and claw back some more time in the twisty section at the beginning of the forth lap. My talent soon ran out and found myself sliding on my arse on a corner that transitioned from dirt to bitumen. Not a high speed crash but fast enough to steal some skin.

Jumping back on my feet as I watched other riders pass I managed to drop my chain. awesome. Fixed that and set about restoring some pride. I think at this point I was dead last. (amusing aside, this was the first time I'd raced CX with my Continental branded leg warmers..  with the byline "Get the Grip"..  so much for that)

By the end I managed to claw back one more position, in what was a really fun course, but ultimately frustrating race.

Strava data