Macon Cyclocross
by Trish Albert

Race: Macon Cyclocross
Date: 10-23-2005
Place: Sandy Creek Park, Macon, GA
Distance: 9.6 miles
Speed: 12.9 mph
Time: 45 minutes

The course was much the same as last year at about 1.7 miles. The start is on a flat (!) road with a left hand turn to a downhill, where the first barriers reside. The entry and exit to the barriers were very fast. The downhill continued on a sand road, which was a bit squirrely. The road turned left up a somewhat gentle hill before coming back out onto the mandatory "long parade around the grass." I hate grass parades. The course then went downhill again to a gravel road and the sand, which was really a long beach stretch. A few riders managed to get about half way through, but the easiest way was to run it. A short, steep uphill was on the other side of the sand, which made remounting difficult. A short road stretch allowed a bit of recovery before climbing Cereal Bowl Hill, one of the toughest run ups in the Georgia CX Series.

There were 10 A Women, which is the largest group we have ever had in my category. The usual suspects were there along with some faces we don't often see. Kim S. and Sam took to the front immediately. If the race was going to be similar to last week's, they would not be seen again. I was in about 3rd position coming into the barriers for the first time. I was in the middle of the group going down the hill. Someone passed me as I climbed the hill, but we were all still together. The peloton broke up a little bit in the grass as Sam, Kim S., and Kim F. took off. I came into the sand along side Ellen. At the top I caught and passed the rest of the ladies except for Sam. I knew this would not last. Several riderspassed me before the next downhill. Coming into the turn to Cereal Bowl hill, I was with Holly, Kari, and Maria. Holly came into the turn too quickly, and her front tire washed out, throwing her on the ground. She was ok but would take a minute to get up. I rode as far up the hill as I could and ran the rest. I remounted at the top. By the beginning of the second lap, the race began to sort itself out. Kim S. and Sam were long gone. Ellen, Kim F., and Maria were next. I was in the middle. Holly and Kari were chasing me. By this time, we settled into our race rhythms. I was riding hard but not pushing myself completely. After last weekend's disaster at Ft. Yargo, I did not want to blow myself up on the first few laps. I can ride steadily at a hard pace for quite a while, but I don't have any acceleration this early in the season. I felt much better than last week and was able to keep a higher pace the entire race. I tried to make sure that my off and on the bike transitions were smooth and not to lose time there. Cereal Bowl Hill was just as hard on laps 2, 3, 4, and 5 as it was on the first one. In the middle laps, I looked back two or three times per lap to see where Holly and Kari were. It seemed like I was keeping a steady distance between us, but I could not let myself get complacent. I pushed a little harder in the grass and on the pavement when I could and recovered when I had to. With 3 to go, I got lapped by the lead men. I was secretly hoping for that as I was starting to get a little tired. I did not slow down, but Holly and Kari decided to ride faster. They passed me with about one and a half laps to go. I tried to increase my pace but couldn't, back to the steady pace. Through the grass section, I felt the first teases of a VCD attack. I recovered on the downhill to the sand pit, ran the sand pit, and bobbled the only time after the sand pit on the hill. I was concentrating more on trying not to have a VCD attack than remounting. I could not clip in and had to jog to the top of the hill to remount. I got back on and hit the pavement. I saw that the distance between me and Kari and me and Holly had not changed, but my legs could not attack. There was nothing left to attack with. I ran up Cereal Bowl Hill again and got back on. I pushed as hard as I could on the pavement. The run in to the barriers the final time was fun. I was smooth, and it flowed well. I bombed down the sand road and steadily climbed the hill to the field. The grass zapped every last ounce of strength I had. I recovered on the downhill again, ran through the sand, and remounted just like I wanted on the gravel hill. I
pushed through the pavement section, hit the bottom of the hill, and gave it one final good effort. I remounted as quickly as I could at the top and rode as fast as I could to the finish. I finished the race completely drained but still feeling good unlike last week when I thought I was going to die.

I was 8th of 10 racers. While not numerically a good placing, I was much happier with my race this week than last. Slightly cooler temperatures and a course that I had two places to recover on helped.