Cross Crusade – Sherwood Forest Cyclocross

This cross thing has been a bit of a challenge for me so far this year – almost like “real” racing…  Well, it is real racing as it turns out, and that has made it easier for me to swallow the pill of no race driving for now.

Everything was going quite well until I got hurt at the beginning of last season.  I battled bronchitis early in this season, which kind of sucked.  Finally, Alpenrose went pretty well, and Rainier wasn’t horrible.  But, it wasn’t until Sherwood that I finally had a result that matched what I was expecting each weekend last year.

There are some things about bicycle racing that can be frustrating.  Amongst those things are the lack of confidence I have in the way scoring is done, and that some other important rules are vague, non-existent, un-published and / or change without notice – but, we are expected to understand and comply with them, anyway.  The difference (for those that haven’t figured it out yet) between a bike race and a bicycle ride, is rules.

So, I made the decision to not be bothered by all of that pesky rules and scoring stuff and to just show up and enjoy the day.  I would spend Sunday at the Sherwood Forest Equestrian Center for a race / ride – depending on my mood at race time.

Saturday night I had attended a Miatacage.com team meeting in Portland and slept on the sofa of the meeting room (surrounded by empty pizza boxes and beer bottles).  I woke up at about 7:30 and drove straight to Sherwood.  As I was there early, I had the opportunity to visit some friends and teammates, drink some coffee (thanks Chris King), eat some oatmeal (thanks Bob’s Red Mill) and to see some racing without being in a rush.

“Big Mike” Hall (Ten Guys Named Alex teammate) has been on the podium for all of the Clydesdale races (dudes over 200 pounds) – we call him Monster Mike now.  The start line of the Clydes race is a crazy sight.  Those guys are big and a bunch of them are built like NFL linebackers – it’s not just a bunch of fat guys.  Mike nearly won one this time, but some big fast dude that used to be a smaller fast dude beat him – again.  I had teased Mike beforehand about not bothering to talk to me after, if he didn’t win – this is the email I got from him on Monday (shared with permission):

Dude, I could not seem to find a solution for Coker. However I will continue to try. He even flatted and somehow caught me. I hate him…I really do. I don’t understand how a Pro 1,2 rider can race Clydes. Especially since he’s already competed with the Mstr. A’s. Shouldn’t it be the other way around. Like shouldn’t you start in the Clydes (provided your fat ass qualifies you to do so) and then move up to the A’s as you get stronger???  WTF?

On one redeeming note, he is most definitely taking me into areas of suffering I did not know I was capable of. 

I was gonna come talk to you after my race but you told me I couldn’t unless I won. Well guess what? I didn’t win. Why? Because I suck. I can’t tell you how bummed I was to not be able to converse with you. It was only til now that I could bring myself to send you this e-mail.  

In fact all I really wanted to say was congratulations on your top 10 finish before the OBRA scorers decide to drop you a few spots cuz someone emails them and says “Hey I finished before that Towey guy”!  

Cheers.

Rivalries are great and my money’s on Mike to climb to the top of that one.

Parkers and Pumpkins: 

I have some rivalries, too – so do you, even if you don’t know about them yet…  My favorite rivalries have always been with good friends.  In auto racing, most recently, the rival was Ken Sutherland, who has come to watch two Cross races this year – we had many epic battles.  In Cross, I currently measure my results with the other old guys from Hood River – Jeff Parker and the Mountain View Pumpkins.

I sold a motorcycle to Jeff almost ten years ago, and rode a bicycle with him for the first time recently.  I used to ride in the Mountain View kit and there are 3 left in the Masters 50 field – they’re orange and they look like pumpkin camouflage.  They are all good guys, and I want to crush them – like evil pumpkins deserve.

Jeff had a great ride at Rainier to leap frog both me and Ed T. (who I don’t know – because I think he is a mountain bike guy and they don’t socialize with roadies), and Gregg Leion has simply been killing it every week.  All three of them were in front of me in series points when the race started Sunday.  They also all have “call-ups” which means that they would start the race in front of me, as well.

The call-up rule is one of the “secret” rules that I haven’t been able to locate yet – as near as I can tell somebody decided that they would call up 15 (I am 16^th in points).

The Race: 

I got a great start and was battling with Gregg through the first series of turns.  My plan was to start fast to avoid the cluster at the run-up and then settle into a steady pace.  Gregg eventually secured his position in front of me and began to make a gap.  Last week Jeff had instructed his son to turn me into a fence line – a task he executed flawlessly causing me to become separated from my bicycle.  This week, Jeff was in front of me as we approached the barrier before the creek.  He slipped and augured into the plywood – I only stepped on him once.

Jeff caught me on the next lap – he started a conversation, no doubt to remind me that he was there.  We got on with the task of grinding out the laps – Gregg continued to ride away.

What normally happens (ask any Cross racer about it) is that riders will go out too hard and then drop through the field like rain soaked oak leaves during a big fall storm.  My former sports car racing rival, Ken asked before my race if there was any information that would be useful to me – I asked for time gaps and got them on the big climb.  I thought that it might help me with my discipline.

The information helped me to keep the pressure on and with each lap the number of riders in front of me shrank.  The race was six laps long and my middle four were all within 6 seconds of each other (three were within 2 seconds) – the last was the quickest of all and I was within two minutes of the winner.  I am happy with the final result (9^th), but consistency through the race is the most encouraging and more important in the big picture.

Even more important than any of that, however, is I was able to regain contact with and eventually pass Gregg (for the first time this year) having gapped Jeff and Ed.  That means victory in the “Category Old Dudes from Hood River” race (ODHR – you can look it up on OBRA Results) – which is a pretty tough crew.

Speaking of tough, Sean Becker (TGNA) has been racing in Masters A and was in one of the lead groups for half of the race.  Apparently he went “wet leaf” in a big way sometime after the midpoint.  He did relay that while being passed by some tall skinny guy that a spectator yelled at him to pick up the pace because he was catching Ryan Trebon (former National Champion).   Looking good, Sean – Bravo!!!

In addition to the teammates and other cycling friends, Ken, Carrie (the photographer), their daughter Emma (the cowbell shaker) all made it for the start.  All of the support is appreciated and motivating – and contributed to the result.  And maybe, next week, the secret rules will mysteriously allow me to have a call-up!!!