One week of illness, one week of travel (pork, beer and not much sleep) meant that my next race hurt a lot. To rephrase a well used saying about fitness and cycling form, if you're in good form, it hurts just as much but for less time.
My last two races were part of the New Jersey Bike Association (NJBA) Cyclocross cup. The good part about this series in contrast to that of the Mid Atlantic Cyclocross (MAC) series is that I get to race in the 45+ rather than the 35+ competition. The bad news is that there isn't a B race - the NJ 45+ is also open to the top fuel. The other good thing about the NJ series is that the fields are smaller (20-30) than the MAC series (90-100). The difference in field size is huge when it comes to the start.
In many of the road races that I've ridden, the start is relatively tempered with the pace picking up through the event, an occasional breakaway or surge forcing a hard effort until the crescendo of the finish where the huddled pack explodes into a blast of frantic sprinters. The start of a race in cyclocross is almost the opposite.
More than any other type of cycling race, your position at the start has a great bearing on your probable place at the finish. The start of a race often comprises the only flat, straight and open section of the course. Once you're through that section, passing becomes harder. In addition, the first significant obstacle, be it mud, sand, a climb or some other hurdle, gets congested with the large field descending upon it. This means crashes and a general slow down for those at or behind the congestion - in some cases about 90% of the field.
For these reasons, it is essential to get as far ahead as you can as quickly as possible without completely blowing up in the process. As such, the start of the race seems to require the biggest expenditure of energy.
One of the things that I've really enjoyed about cyclocross is that it combines fitness, power & bike handling as key ingredients for a good result. As yet, I've not managed to summon the correct proportions of these, but I'm becoming more aware of what's needed. Its certainly the case that all of these are necessary to get a great start but there's one other very important part of starting well - your status or rank in the field.
Based on the series results to date, the leading riders are "called up". This means that the fastest riders are allowed to start at the front, bit like Formula 1 racing where laps determine pole starting position. In most cases, there follows a scrum to fight for the places behind those gifted few who are called up. I've also found that in some of the big field races (like the last one at Granogue in Delaware) that order of registration is also used for call up. To my cost, I found out that being the 90th person to register for the race means that you get to start at the back. The photo below (taken by Isobel) shows the start of the 35+ race at Granogue. The chiseled athletes at the front know what they're doing, preening in the respect that comes with the call up. The rest of us were hoping that we were in the right race. I'm the tall rider with the red helmet in the distant right of the picture.
Another lesson learnt: whatever it takes, don't start at the back.
All things considered, I had a pretty good race on a tough course on a very enjoyable day with my family who came out to see what all the fuss was about 'cross.
Next is a lot more travel, a weekend break and then another MAC race at the end of October before the NJ series resumes with the State CX championship.
Thanks for reading
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