Cross is here.

This weekend the first cyclocross races started in Seattle. Labor Day Cross was the first on the calendar. It was at the North Seatac Park.

I was not sure I was going to race until 8am the day of the race. I woke up my daughter Paulina and off we went. (the boys were too lazy) We got there in plenty of time to get signed up and take a few laps of the course. Muddy and slick and then more mud. One huge run-up that is sand and railroad tie steps.

I always make the same mistake at races, warming up too late and getting to the staging area behind 30 other guys. I was in the third row. Andy Erickson was one row behind me. About 30 seconds from the start a guy just picked his bike up and left the second row. I took his spot.

The start was uphill on moss and gravel covered asphalt. I couldn't get clipped in but sprinted anyways up to about 6th going through the start/finish line. Andy was about 3 wheels behind me.

A few guys crashed before the first set of barriers and I moved up to third, Andy still right behind me. It started to get crowded as we were going through the slower singlespeeders, especially on the long runup where I found myself pausing on each step.

On the next lap Andy disappeared from behind me and reappeared in front of me. I dropped my chain going over a log in the last half lap but didn't lose any places getting it back on and kept chasing him. In all the confusion of singlespeeders and lapped riders I didn't know who was who or what place I was any more. Turns out Andy flatted in the worst spot and had to run out of the woods to the pits ~half a lap away. A Broadmark rider helped him out with a wheel and kept him in the race.

I came in third with an average lap time of just under 8 minutes.