"My first UCI Points and Another State Championship Victory": Devon Reports on Iowa's Jingle Cross and the WI State Cyclocross Championship Race

Jingle Cross (Thanksgiving Weekend, 2007)

I had my most exciting Cross race of the season yet. I have been doing a lot of local races this season, and usually the race ends up being a battle with one or two others. This weekend, there was a huge field of strong riders to race against. It was a two-day UCI event. The first day had a long muddy run-up, followed by an off-camber downhill... a weave through the fairground barns (one with sand), some long flat sections and then a long climb followed by a scarily steep downhill. Day two had a similar course, but backwards. This time we went up the off-camber hill followed closely by a run-up on the super steep hill... then some flats, and twisty sections through the barns. It was a fun course overall, but I do need to work on my downhills and tight turns.

I got off to a terrible start on Day 1... I think I was last shortly after the gun went off. I then got caught behind two wipe outs within the first minute. The leaders were gone by then and I had quite a few gaps to work on. I moved my way up slowly throughout the first lap and ended up in the middle of the pack. I slowly closed in on the 4th and 5th place riders throughout the race and got pretty close to catching up when my chain fell off going over a barrier (doh!). I lost a bit of ground and was then hanging on for 7th with two chasers close behind. I got caught by one on the crazy-steep downhill (we don't have these in Chicago). But I managed to finish 8th for the day.

Day 2 did not start much better than Day 1, but I moved up more quickly this time. While the top three riders had quite a lead, I was in the next pack of 3 working with them for most of the race. It was hard climbing the hills for a second day in a row, but there were a ton of great fans who cheered us on up the difficult run-up and the riders I was with made me keep going strong. I struggled to hang on on the last lap, but came in just behind 4&5 for a 6th place finish, an improvement on Day 1! Overall, it was a fun experience to ride with such a strong field of riders.

Wisconsin State Championships (Sunday, December 2, 2007)

Despite the rain, sleet, and snow conditions this weekend, I couldn't pass up a cross race (there are only two more weeks of cross left :( ). Aspen and I headed up to Milwaukee yesterday and arrived to a snow-covered park for the race. By the time I raced, it had rained a bit and lots of other races had gone so there was a muddy/slushy rut the whole way around the course. There were two run ups, a hill climb, a frozen sandpit (which is a lot easier to ride through than a non-frozen one), a huge puddle (brrr), two bridges, and lots of slick muddy turns around trees.

I was lucky to get a starting spot right along the muddy groove and for once I had a good start and was in front from the whistle. The course was tough... you had to keep peddling to get through the slush and no matter how hard you pedaled, you weren't going anywhere very fast. I had one girl on my tail for the first lap... I just kept focussed on staying upright and moving... and tried to chase down the 35+ guys ahead of me. Soon I had opened a pretty good sized gap but I kept going hard because I knew I had a lot of strong riders behind me. I also had to hope my bike wasn't going to break down on me from being completely covered in snow and mud. My bike proved to be sturdy (thanks to all the Get a Grip Cycles crew and to Saj for fixing it up last week) and I was able to get the win. The atmosphere was great - lots of people embracing the messy conditions, cheering loudly, and having a good time. Makes me love cross even more. Two more weeks left... .and then a long long wait until next season.

The last race of the Chicago series is next weekend so one more chance for you all to get out on the bike and race before spring!