2013 Cyclocross Nationals

There's two words that can explain 2013 Cyclocross Nationals: Mud and Ice. I woke up early friday morning really not knowing what to expect at all. As I got all my riding gear on to pre ride the course the whole parking lot was a sheet of ice and the course wasn't any different. During my pre ride the course was all ice and snow and it was impossible to go up any of the hills (with my lack of awesomeness), with a couple hours until my race I was pretty sure I was screwed. After pre riding  I went to the Cycle-Ops tent that had around 50 trainers inside and I warmed up for my race. During the couple of hours between pre riding and my race the sun came on and melted a lot of the ice, making the course a complete mudfest.

Taken By: Tom Mosby

Walking to the start line was hell. The whole walk there was just all mud. Tom being the nice guy that he is carried my bike to the start for me, and I waddled to the start trying to not get my shoes wet, even though at that point 10 seconds into the race my shoes were going to be soaked. Arriving at the start line they immediately started calling out racers. As we got into our places I was wearing my blue warm GORE jacket, afraid to take it off because of the weather. 

 Taken By: Tom Mosby

It was finally time to leave the jacket behind with one minute until the race started. 30 seconds... 15 seconds... GO! I had a AWFUL start, but I slowly started catching up to people. The first lap was awesome. I had no problems until I swapped my Kona Jake 2011, for my Kona Jake The Snake that i don't usually race with too much. The brakes on the Jake The Snake weren't as good as the ones Activator Cycles put on my Kona Jake, in other words; I just wasn't used to the handling of that bike at all. My second lap was hell. I went over the handle bars twice. The second time I couldn't get up for a good minute or two because the wind got knocked out of me. The course was so slick. 

The last time passing the pits I grabbed my Kona Jake 2011 and tried to push myself being in dead last after my brutal crash. I caught up to a girl but she beat me. All in all, Cyclocross Nationals was an amazing experience, and I'm pretty proud of myself for my first CX season and 6th CX race! I can't wait for next year, I made my goal; To finish and that's what I did! Bring it on 2014