Hippo cross fell in to that local within 30 minute drive from my house category + the promoters created an exciting buzz leading up the event and the list of things they did to make it a fun event had me pumped to bring the family and race this race. I’m friends with the promoters and supporting Robin and Lance Dunn (Cognition family and Hippo cross race promoters) was an important thing for me as well. The week leading up to the race, I found out BiknBen (Owner of Cognition Coaching) was reg’d to race which was cool to see since it’s been a while since he pinned on a cyclocross race #. There was a chance my buddy Kevin was planning on making an appearance which is super rare and a pretty big deal which also added to the stoke pile. There were a bunch of our Princeton Progression families there to support the event and cheer us on. I registered early so I had a decent call up which I believe ended up biting me in the ass in the long run, I’ll get to that in a minute. To say I was excited to race this race was an understatement – STOKE WAS WAY HIGH!
My race was scheduled for 1:15pm and that made for a tight schedule at home since Stef went to Yoga from 10-11am… By the time she got home, we got ready and hit the road by 11:45, I arrived closer to 12:30 which didn’t give me much time to get my act together. I ran in to ALL the familiar faces, I was running my mouth more than I usually do, I was all caught up in the excitement and social aspect of the event and just like last race I didn’t do a decent warm up and never prerode the course. On one hand, I knew I should of made an effort to do all the race prep things and be all serious racer guy who wants to be competitive… and on the other hand, cyclocross racing for me is not that serious so I just winged it which hurt me in the actual race. So I failed to do all the prerace routines and end up having fun talking to people and stuff.
I got my # from registration and I drew lucky #13.. Oooof… The rules state when you draw the evil #13, you must turn it upside down to reverse the bad juju. I contemplated the decision and chose to keep it right side up against rules and my gut feeling. I didn’t want to be in staging and have the official tell me I needed to flip it which would cause a last minute prerace / start line anxiety attack. So my early registration scored me some bad juju that lingered in the back of my mind and eventually hit me unexpectedly late in the race.
Race time
I lined up second row which is ok but not front row. I knew if I had a front row, I could do my usual BMX race snap start and could have a significant advantage over the rest of the field. Since I was second row, I needed to be a little more careful and patient. The whistle blew and I quickly clipped and snapped and almost slammed in to the back of Owen… so I coasted and soft pedaled and my timing was horrible and I got jammed in to the middle of the pack going in to the first corner pinch point.
Then patiently conga lined through all the twisty taped sections…
…and as we made our way to the back side of the course, I was flying blind, lots of dust, lots of bumps, lots of overwhelming claustrophobia kicking in and since I didn’t preride, I got a really nice introduction to the course at a CAT 3 HAMMER YOUR FACE OFF PACE! It wasn’t a good situation to say the least.
As the course opened up to the power sections, I realized quickly that I was not warmed up and I was pushing WAY TOO HARD too soon and all kinds of pain and discomfort overtook my entire self and I hemorrhaged a ton of positions like I was standing still….My “MTBNJ.com proclaimed nemesis – Hotsauce” passed me and said – “Hey it’s blue helmet guy” (He’s orange socks guy from Whirlybird if you recall). I was blowing up really bad and I am pretty sure I went from mid pack to last place in the blink of an eye. As I rode through the team tent section, I was hurting bad and I see Jim Vreeland as he yelled at me “20 MORE LAPS TO GO” which was funny and soul crushing at the same time, a few more feet and announcer Sean commented that my nemesis Hotsauce was doing a good job staying in front of me – another kick in the nads.
As I rode in to lap two, I was in a terrible place mentally and wanted to quit but the thought of giving up was embarrassing. As I passed my wife, I yelled “I’M IN LAST PLACE!”…
“Hey Hun – I’m in last place”
As I rode in to the back side of the cource, I dialed it back and made an effort to keep pace with hotsauce and keep him in front of me until I got myself back together and was able to ride smooth again. I can’t recall which lap it was, lap two or three but I eventually picked up a pattern with Hotsauce riding and I knew I could make a move on the back side of the course where there was a short steep pitch. So as the course started to climb, I attacked and passed him on the steep part and then turned myself inside out on the long flat section leading in to the next fun flowy downhill section.
As I rounded lap two in to lap three at the beginning of the team tent section, I see my buddy Kevin with a protein shake hand up (CLASSIC).. I snagged it, immediately thought, “BAD CHOICE –WOULD CAUSE STOMACH ISSUE” and I tossed it backwards at him and saw it hit his son in the back. For the next 10 seconds, I felt like such a dumb-ass for spilling chocolate Muscle Milk on the poor kid.
Protein Shake Handup
At that point, I was recovered from the pain cave and able to start figuring out how to ride this bike and course. My kids were cheering me on and I’m feeling like I could actually make something of this effort. As I continued, I was now riding better and was able see carrots to chase. I began picking off riders and moving forward and with each overtake, I was getting more aggressive and confident using less brakes and carving corners and getting in to a good rhythm plus all the familiar faces cheering me on pumped me up even more.
UNTIL – I pedal striked on the backside of the course and almost crashed and lost two positions – UGH… I regained my composure and got back in to the rhythm…. a minor set back.
Two laps to go, I chased one guy through the start area chicanes and the entire backside power sections and I noticed I would gain on him in the techy corners. I turn myself inside out again on the long backside flat section and entered in to the fast flowy down hill and I remembered Jeremy telling me to jump in to the beginning part of that downhill as it helps carry a ton of speed through the remainder of that part. So I took his advice and aired it out and landed on the backside with a ton of speed in to the blind right handed off camber. With that momentum, I attacked and over took that position and I came around the uphill straight to the barriers with a nice head of steam and I see Tommy Shapiro ahead.
Attack to bridge to Rad Racing – Tommy Shapiro
I clean the barriers and I stayed on the gas and bridged to Tommy’s wheel, came around him on the right, gave him a quick pat on the shoulder and made my pass. I tucked in and hammered the next straight, looked up and saw a ton of carrots and at that very moment, a wind gust blows the course tape in to my handlebars, snagged my right shifter hood and immediately ejected me over the handlebars and sent me sailing through the air. In mid air, I tucked into a fetal position and land solidly on the gravel path with my right hip and forearm and I skid to a stop. I opened my eyes and looked up and I see Tommy on top of me trying not to run me over as his bike got tangled up with mine.
Spotting the race official
I laid there for what felt like an eternity as I embraced the hurt that is now taking over the right side of my body. As I picked myself up, riders from both directions were asking if I was ok, telling me to get up and keep going and I slowly picked up my bike, untangled it from the tape and remounted. I saw the photographer who asked me if I was ok and all I could think was how could he just stand there and not offer help…. As I pedaled on, I was overtaken by anger, frustration and adrenaline and targetted my anger at the fact that the tape and stakes were blowing all over the place and how dangerous that was. I rolled around to where Kevin was heckling and stopped for a moment to explain what happened and then I rolled through the rest of the lap and as all the hecklers said something, my anger got worse. I pulled over to the first race official I saw and explained what happened and suggested that someone needs to address the tape mess. As I pulled away and through the start / finish line, announcer Sean delivered the final blow – “And there goes Mountain Bike Mike, yelling things at people who couldn’t care less”.
I made my way over to my wife and kids and let them know what happened and then tucked my tail between my legs, buried my bruised ego and tried really hard to bite my lip as I limped back to the car to assess the carnage that was radiating from my hip.
As I took off my jersey and threw it in the car, I stopped for a moment and stared at the number 13 and thought – Bad luck got me good this race.
As the day went on, it took a long time for my anger and frustration to subside and as the adrenaline wore off, the sting and the aches increased.
Blood stained kit with a few tears – Ben says it add character if you race with holes in your kit.
Why do I do this to myself?…. BECAUSE I LOVE IT! I’m addicted to it and its good for me.
Next race is in two weeks in Cherry Hill NJ…. Maybe I won’t be such an idiot and prepare a little better… Or not..
Thanks for reading!
Mike Williams 