My 1st Cyclocross Race – COMPLETE!

I couldn’t think of a better way to end 2013 with a totally new experience! Cyclocross has always been on my list of things to dabble in during the offseason – and so I raced the Long Island Cyclocross event in Nissequogue State Park. This event is hosted by Kreb Cycle, one of the bike shops on Long Island.

When I got to the park, which is surrounded by empty buildings, I was skeptical about the course. I knew that the terrain would be mostly grass, but I didn’t know if there were any obstacles along the circuit. Once checked in, I did a quick 2 loop warmup. The course was actually quite simple – a few technical spots and 2 obstacles.

The race started a few minutes after 10am, with all categories in one mass start. The start wasn’t as hectic as I expected, and it was nothing as crazy as an Ironman mass swim start. Nonetheless, I put myself into ‘race mode’ once we all started. The course wasn’t tricky, but there were a couple of technical spots that really made me focus on my line and balance.

I started in the middle of the field, probably around 30th place out of the 51 racers. After the first lap, I had passed  a good number of racers, but could see that I was still far from the front. I knew that racing with a mountain bike would give me an instant disadvantage against those racing with much lighter cx bikes, so my goal was not to catch the leaders, but to catch anyone I could see in front of me. With that game plan, I pushed an averaged of 181 bpm throughout the 60 minutes; and lap after lap, I caught up with the guys in front of me, finishing in 16th place.

Here’s the ride data!
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The following photos were taken by LimPuiu Photography. Be sure to check out his other albums!

Would I do CX races on a more regular basis? In a heartbeat.