Lost Trail CX

Last weekend was the first ever Lost Trail CX race. The race was held at the Louisberg Cider Mill - a place that makes cider, has a corn maze / pumpkin patch, and some great terrain for a CX race.

It rained the day before the race, so the ground was somewhat slick and sticky early in the day but by the open race the mud was packed down enough that there really weren't any slick sections. However, while the mud was packed down, there were quite a few rocks that showed up in the course that had earlier been hidden under layers of dirt or mud. These rocks made for quite a few flats over the course of the day. It was supposed to get up in the mid 40s and sunny, but it hovered around 35 degrees and foggy the entire day. The turnout for the open race was pretty small (7 guys), but the guys who showed up were definitely fast (Tilford and Shadd Smith to name just a couple).

I got a pretty bad start (last place into the first corner), but moved up a spot half-way through the first lap. After the first lap I found myself just a second or two behind JP Brocket and Steve Songer. Over the next 4 laps, JP Brocket had a mechanical, Steve Songer crashed, I flatted, and JP flatted again. After all of those issues and the continual passing and being passed, I found myself in 5th place with Songer about 10 seconds ahead of me. He started growing the gap and my back tire kept on bottoming out, so I eased up for last couple of laps and was content with 5th place. I was sure I had close to 30 psi in my back tire when I aired it up before my pre-ride, but I got back to my car and realized I somehow only had around 20 psi in my back tire... definitely not enough for this course.

I thought this was one of the most fun courses so far this year. Since I flatted my front tubular, I also got to try using my one of new clinchers (Clement Crusade PDX). I'm pretty sure I'm going to buy those in tubular form for next year; they had an unbelievable amount of traction in the corners yet still seemed to roll decently fast for a set of really knobby tires. Cross off the old year is in 2 weeks from now and should be my last CX race of the season.

Trying to stay with JP after my flat and his first flat. Photo credit goes to David Tsai.