›Hood River Cyclocross Classic
Race date: September 24, 2006
Hood River, Oregon
Written by: Gina Miller
You’d think after partaking in triathlons and running events for so many years that I’d understand the importance of a solid pre-race meal. I guess I was thinking that this race was the first on my new and very cool pink IF bike and it was more for fun than anything. So, dinner the night before the race consisted of two “perfecto” margaritas, a seafood burrito at El Caporal and a kick-ass piece of chocolate cake to celebrate Jenell Snapp’s birthday.
I was in trouble at 2:15am when I woke up thirsty with a killer headache – drank a big glass of water and took two Tylenol. When I got up to say bye to Wade at about 5:30am (he and Chad left before Renee and I did), I was still struggling. Yes, slight hangover I believe. Coffee…..
I picked up Renee at about 6:45am for our 3-hour drive. We were lagging behind the guys since we were bringing the three dogs with us: Big Red, Maggie and Metro but still wanted to get there in time to watch them both race. We arrived with plenty of time to see the guys off but during warm-up, Wade had a major mechanical issue – his carbon seat post had snapped off. He missed racing with the Category Cs and after a bike swap, raced with the Men’s Category B Masters. We’ll wait for the full reports from Wade and Chad, but suffice it to say that there is a lot of road rash between them. Unfortunately neither one finished but they have good stories and for some reason, guys always think it’s cool to have scabs everywhere.
Renee and I started our race at 1pm. I was still feeling crummy. Besides the mild hangover, Renee and I both had upset stomachs and couldn’t really put down any food (partially nerves). Renee was not having fun with the rice cakes I brought along – it was like eating cardboard. With all of the morning race mishaps, we didn’t get to completely pre-ride the course so Robin Laughlin gave us her two cents as well as the guys. It was honestly sort of gibberish to me when you hear things like “when you come into the tight right hand turn, make sure you stay high because the ground is loose.” Whatever – I knew I wouldn’t remember one turn from another …there were a million turns on the course! Everyone said the course was fast and that was certainly true. There was a conspicuous absence of mud, but a pretty cool course overall with four sets of barriers, lots of loose rocks, sand and tight turns. There was one set of barriers that was on a hairpin turn downhill – hop the barriers and immediate turn to your left, then quick to the right. The challenge was the creek at the bottom and the loose sand and dirt on the trail. Everyone was re-mounting their bikes after the run down through the S-curve and it was really loose – more than once I thought I was going to miss the turn and launch myself into the creek.
When we started, there were 13 beginner women lined up across the line. Renee shot out like a rocket and I just jumped out behind her and followed. She was being more strategic than I was trying to get around the rest of the women in our group before the course funneled down to single track so she wouldn’t have to ride behind them. We didn’t know where we were in relation to the rest of the beginner women, but we did pass a few women from the group ahead of us – go Renee! I was riding her wheel like no one’s business. There was a set of two barriers placed around a corner and the second one was on a hill. The best thing to do was to carry your bike and hop over the barriers, then push the bike uphill until it flattened out a little. Remembering Renee’s shout of “don’t forget to put it in an easy gear” was key to getting on and riding the rest of the way up the hill. It got really bogged down in this section on the first two laps. So much so that I toppled over because of so little forward momentum – it was too clogged up and too tight to pass. I took out the person behind me who was NOT happy, but I recovered quickly and we were at the top. Every time I got to the top I heard Robin’s husband Jeff Fuch’s voice saying “don’t rest on the asphalt at the top of the hill – you can rest on the backside.” It was sooo tempting to rest at the top of the hill on the flat asphalt section, but I pushed it as hard as I could go. I was sure I was going to throw up at some point, but somehow my heart rate came down just enough so when I got back to that same hill it was doable. I was so excited when I heard Jeff yell “last lap!” I don’t think I could have done another 5 minutes let alone another lap.
Renee and I stuck together for all five laps – Renee leading most of them. I’m not sure when I actually ended up in front of her, but I think it was at one of the barrier sections. We had no idea that we came in first and second until Renee heard our names announced. She came to find me and we both cracked up. Heck, I was just doing what I could to stay on Renee’s wheel! That’s the funny thing about cross, no one really seems to notice or care that much about winning, everyone’s just having fun. However, the most fun comes when you’re through with the 45 minutes of pain and you feel good about finishing and watching the next race. It’s an odd sport really. But then I’m sure “pure” cyclocross riders think triathlon is weird too!
return to main race reports page!
