As I was walking over to the venue from where I had parked, about the first thing I noticed was how spongy the grass was. The thing about cyclocross is that any course can throw a whole range of difficulties at you; some of those are constructed, while others are part of the landscape. Pedaling on grass can be hard enough under normal conditions. When the grass is just short of an Irish bog, well, lets just say it was the obstacle of the day. When you weren't trying to power through that, and you found a stretch of firm ground, the bumps would shake your arms apart. If you ever thought to get used to all that, there were some nice smooth sections through the baseball infields, as well as the paved section through the start/finish to throw you off. Anyway, the second wave, comprised of the Men's C, and the Master Women 35+ and 45+, was well into their torture when I arrived, so I only got a few photos - two below, more here.
Jason of the blog BicycleFriends. i am sure he will have
some photos up as well, if not already
Wave 3 was all Masters Men B, 35+, 45+, and Men 55+
More from those Masters groups here.
Man, did the Men 35+A and 45+A race take off fast or what? I'll answer my own question - yes they did. Of course, what would you expect with the likes of racers the calibre of Chris Demarchi, not to mention those who beat the likes of Demarchi.
top roadies, like Demarchi, do cross too
There are some more photos from the 4th wave Masters groups here.
Hard to decide which was more exciting in the Women's Elite race, one of three races during the 5th wave. Was it the dominating win by Heather Jackson, or was it the battle a little further back between the trio of Jenna Kowalski, birthday girl Dorothy Wong, and Julie LaFranchise? Luckily in CX you don't need to choose, you can see it all unfold.
Kowalski, LaFranchise, and hidden back there, Wong at the run-up
The remainder of the photos from the 5th wave are here.
Select group - Gareth Feldstein, Carlos Matias Mendigochea,
Alan Zinniker in the Single Speed A
Mendigochea and Zinniker at the barriers
More Photos of wave 6.The Elite Men's field took off quick and built their speed from there. Most everyone did a pretty good job of keeping it tight for a lap, but not much beyond that a group of four to set themselves apart, and it was from that group that Brent Prenzlow emerged, to claim the day's prize.
More photos from wave 7 can be found here.
Thanks for the pics, Michael. The spongy grass was certainly a big challenge for me in my second-ever CX race (Masters B 45+).
ReplyDeleteI see on your bio that you went through the UCLA Landscape Architecture program. My wife graduated from the program a couple of years ago. Small world...
Ken, very small world sometimes. Your wife picked a tough time to graduate though, the past few years have been pretty rough for everyone in the building industry. I see we race the same category by the way, that is when I'm not taking photos instead.
ReplyDeleteNice write up Michael. It was nice seeing you and thanks for the pics.
ReplyDeleteI don't think I will make it to SLO Cross, but I will try for the Turkey Trot Cross in Glendale.
Grass is hard to ride through. There always seems to be a small amount of resistance. Just enough to keep it interesting.
Michael, will you be going to Turkey Trot in Glendale? I'll be out there again.
ReplyDeleteAs for my wife, she has worked steadily since UCLA, but is gearing up for the LARE next Spring, so that should be interesting around here...
Unfortunately the weekend of Turkey Trot CX is going to be questionable. I just won't know until that day. From what I remember of last year, it is a pretty nice course; have a good race. I'll definitely be at Griffith Park the weekend after though.
ReplyDelete