The first bike to get replaced after the garage theft debacle was the cross bike. As it just so happened, Webcyclery was having a sale on 2012 models to make room for their 2013 inventory. I just happened to hit their sale on the first day (by pure dumb luck) of the sale last Thursday.
I had done a little research and was particularly interested in the Scott bikes as they seemed to provide a good bang for your buck. Considering that cycloscross is a totally new sport for me, I was putty in their hands such that my opinions could be easily sculpted by those in the know.
My road bike is a size 53cm frame and so the plan was to stay more or less in the same vicinity relative to size. They had a Scott Team bike in a size 52cm that I took out for a spin in the parking lot and it seemed to handle well and fit me. After some BS'ing, I decided to pull the trigger and walk out of the store with a new bike, but not before they talked me into signing up for their Cross Thrilla' series.
They put on a 4 race series in Bend that started last Thursday and runs every Thursday for 4 weeks...fast forward to the late afternoon and I found myself signing up for a OBRA license and getting ready to ride in the first wave of races as part of the Mens 40+ 'C' category. The 'C' stands for newbie, rookie, greenhorn, first timer, the list goes on.....
There is nothing like toeing in for a race after having just purchased the bike! I did get to ride it a little bit prior to the race as my warmup entailed riding from the house to the course and then doing a quickie preview lap of the course. The mystery of how the bike (and operator) would handle was still looming. The practice lap went somewhat uneventfully although there was a huge difference in handling in the dirt (relative to the mountain bike).
Before I knew it, the race started and there I was inhaling buckets of moon-dust as the riders in front of me kicked up dirt and dust into the air. Since this was all a novelty, the plan was to just ride and see how it all unfolded. The first lap was somewhat uneventful and so we built from there. By lap 2, the handling started to feel mo' betta' and it was time to push the bike and body a little harder. By lap 3 the heart rate was pinned and it was a matter of just trying to hang in until the finish.
Observations:
I had done a little research and was particularly interested in the Scott bikes as they seemed to provide a good bang for your buck. Considering that cycloscross is a totally new sport for me, I was putty in their hands such that my opinions could be easily sculpted by those in the know.
My road bike is a size 53cm frame and so the plan was to stay more or less in the same vicinity relative to size. They had a Scott Team bike in a size 52cm that I took out for a spin in the parking lot and it seemed to handle well and fit me. After some BS'ing, I decided to pull the trigger and walk out of the store with a new bike, but not before they talked me into signing up for their Cross Thrilla' series.
They put on a 4 race series in Bend that started last Thursday and runs every Thursday for 4 weeks...fast forward to the late afternoon and I found myself signing up for a OBRA license and getting ready to ride in the first wave of races as part of the Mens 40+ 'C' category. The 'C' stands for newbie, rookie, greenhorn, first timer, the list goes on.....
There is nothing like toeing in for a race after having just purchased the bike! I did get to ride it a little bit prior to the race as my warmup entailed riding from the house to the course and then doing a quickie preview lap of the course. The mystery of how the bike (and operator) would handle was still looming. The practice lap went somewhat uneventfully although there was a huge difference in handling in the dirt (relative to the mountain bike).
Before I knew it, the race started and there I was inhaling buckets of moon-dust as the riders in front of me kicked up dirt and dust into the air. Since this was all a novelty, the plan was to just ride and see how it all unfolded. The first lap was somewhat uneventful and so we built from there. By lap 2, the handling started to feel mo' betta' and it was time to push the bike and body a little harder. By lap 3 the heart rate was pinned and it was a matter of just trying to hang in until the finish.
Observations:
- My usual 'red line' HR is in the 160's.....The race jacked it up to a high of 173! I stayed in the 160's for a majority of the 28+ minutes of ride time. Either I had grossly under-estimated my red-line, or the race just kicked my butt....probably a little bit of both!
- My mtb handling skills came in handy when coming around/through soft sand and 'tech' terrain. I use the term 'tech' rather generously as there really was not much tekkie to deal with at all.
- Sitting behind riders and 'Hoover'ing Bend moon-dust into the lungs for 30 minutes will make a guy cough up lung cheese for the remainder of the night...yum!
- Cross is FUN, Cross is HARD...I can see it might develop into a love/hate thingie
- Getting off your bike and running over obstacles with your bike jump starts your HR!
- 'ain't nuthin' like a good cross race to make you feel a wee bit more local
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