SSCXWC 2011

[Jim Hewett]

I showed up on Sunday for the 2011 Single Speed Cyclocross World Championships in Golden Gate park ready for business!  Dressed for success, from my double vented tropical wool suit, to my Zegna shirt and Faconnable tie.  I left the brief case in the car, though.

The rain had been falling all night, and the course looked like it had been properly destroyed by the many people that had already raced.  I checked out the course a little and watched some of the women's race.  Crowds of spectators and hecklers lined the exciting sections, cheering and jeering.

The sun came out just as we were lining up in a grassy field for the LeMans style start for our race.  The "implication" that costumes would somehow benefit my start position proved false, as we all just bolted for our bikes.  The one obstacle that blocked our way was the 100 foot muddy runup that we would have to do every lap.  Superheroes, barbarians, transvestites, and all other manner of freakshow racers climbed all over each other to get to the top first.  I grabbed my bike and gingerly hopped over the others that were awaiting their pilots.  Not a bad start, as I'm sure I was in the top twenty.  We rode the last bit of the official lap and came through the finish area to begin our first of 5 laps.

The first big barrier was a set of three waist high trees, greased with mud, after a short uphill.  I was off my bike and leaping over the first one when the muscle strain from yesterday's "dollar grab feat" sent a sharp pain up to my right butt cheek.  Okay, on the uphill barriers I would be scooting over a little more gingerly.

Back on the bike, we made our way through some woodchip whoop-de-doos and onto a course that really didn't have much trail that wasn't sloppy.  My bike was handling great.  The disc brakes probably helped alot.  I made my way around a few riders and lost a place or two to others.  I ducked as I rode under a 4 foot high scaffolding and pedaled hard around and up a hill to a sharp left and another large log.  This was going downhill and I was able to leap it in a single bound with the cheering and heckling filling my ears.

Throughout the race, I was called "business suit" and "suit guy".  I was reminded many times that I was late for a meeting or interview, or accused of being the "one percent".  It was nice to hear my real name used in encouragement many times, and I had fun encouraging the many people I knew that were racing.

I made most of the slippery climbs successfully and was able to clean my bike a little as I slogged through the "cesspool of filth" each lap.  This was a novel element constructed just for the race:  a ramp lead to a 20 foot long and 2 foot deep pool, lined by crowds spraying water and other liquids at you.  After a short runup and more muddy turns, a short paved section brought us once again to the long muddy runup and then through more slippery turns to the finish area.  The laps were taking about 12 minutes - quite long for a 'cross race!

I wasn't racing my best, and the whole spectacle was a bit distracting from the actual race.  I was going back and forth with some ShoAir dude and Chas Christianson when Krishna came around me going pretty hard in purple body paint.  He quickly made it around a few more racers and out of sight.  I was passed by Don Myrah with a huge black afro not much later, and I tried to keep him in sight.  Scott Chapin caught up to me and passed me for a bit, but the patriotic nature of his red, white and blue clown suit stirred me to dig deeply and regain the lead.  We were into lapped traffic pretty heavily by now, but I figured I was around the top ten.

On lap two, I had my only accident of the day.  I went head over heels into the mud jumping over a log, much to the delight of the "99 percent".

I could see Don ahead and Scotty behind for much of the rest of the race, which gave me both types of motivation.  I think my fastest lap was the last one, and I rolled in 8th overall.  Filthy and tired, but happy!