It was about an hour trek up to Rainer, so I picked up my carpool mate, Matt, bright and early at 6am. It was his 1st cross race, so he was raring to go. The venue was at Rainer high school, a new course for the Cross Crusade. Hopefully, we didn't piss them off too much. 800+ racers doesn't treat the landscaping on the course too well.
The course was AWESOME. The highlight of the day was the "playground". The Crusaders laid a new "sandbox" that was about 25 yards of deep sand. It was off a descent, so you could pick up speed and maintain momentum through most of it. A few pedal strokes at the end and you were out of it. It was definitely the spot for the spectators since not all made it through. At least it was a soft landing.
The Human Bean team had a decent race. Some problems with my rear derailleur made the climb to the finish a pain with slipping gears. I finished in the top 50%. My carpool mate finished in the top 10 with the rookies. I'm sure he'll be schoolin' us in the Masters Cs soon and movin' to the B league.
I'll be missing the Halloween race next week, but the schedule in November looks great. Good courses near PDX again. Come on out and check out the races - I got a cowbell you can borrow.
Excellent coverage at BikePortland .
Words of wisdom to remember (got to remember this next race):
"Pain is the sign of weakness leaving the body"
1 comment:
That was a great course! Thanks again for the ride and I'll see you in November.
Matt Couzens
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