Windy City Cyclocross - - ChiCross Cup #3 Hawthorn Woods

It could have been called Hotter than Hell Cross and they wouldn't have been far off. Honestly not too bad, the temps were in the high 80's with a steady 10-15 mph wind (not too windy for THE windy city) and SUNNY skies. Sounds like a great day to be hanging down at the beach on Lake Michigan with some cold ones but we cross junkies and self proclaimed masochists choose to flog ourselves. The Hawthorn Woods suburb NW of Chicago was playing host to race #3 in the local ChiCross Cup series, so away we went.

After 2 nights of mucho wine, late night cavorting, and feasting like Kings at N9ne what was I thinking jumping into a cross race on a hot blustery day?Not to mention in full Belgium form, we engaged in the drinking of Absinthe, look out! As always I underestimated the drive time and arrived one hour before the whistle... not too bad really. But I hadn't ridden in 3 days, no pre-race opener the day before, so it was imperative to get some type of warm up. I got registered, changed, and headed out for a quick lap. Course was pretty fast with long straight aways and not very technical. The only exception was back to back climbs up a HUGE sledding hill. The base of the 2nd climb had a barrier forcing a dismount, but getting back on the bike wasn't too problematic . Out for a quick warm-up on the road to blow out the cobwebs and then the family shows up to witness this spectacle so affectionately called 'cross. Most of them had never watched a 'cross race, only heard me tell stories about it.

Call-ups for the local studs begin and I zoom up into the 2nd row when they say 'and the rest'. There were 26 starters with riders from teams like KillJoy, SRAM, Planet Bike, the Pony Shop, and Team XXX. The officials said it was ok for handups due to the heat, so my bro Vinny was in the pits with bottle in hand. We don't get feeds in KC, so I really wasn't expecting to use it much, ya right.

Whistle blows and we're off. Fast pavement section into a right hand grassy S turn leading into the first climb. Ride the climb, descend, over the barrier, remount, and ride the climb again, descend... Heart rate at MAX! I'm sitting fourth or fifth wheel as we hit the double barriers. I had a bad line going into them so made for a not so smooth dismount on the choppy ground. Make it around to the mud ditch. My rear wheel loses traction on the up side of the ditch and guy behind me hits my rear wheel and down he goes, Sorry man. Around the soccer fields and thru the pits we are jockeying for position. Back onto the pavement and up the hills again. 3 laps in and still in 4th or 5th with the leaders and my stomach starts cramping something fierce. Must have been that huge Porterhouse lodged in my gullet. This was the first time I really wanted to quit a race. It hurt so bad and I just didn't think I could make it another 45 minutes. The in-laws were all there cheering me on, so I had to stay in. I sit up and ease off the gas and start to drift back through the field. It felt like a ton of people went by, so I jumped onto this group of 3 guys and followed, was more like getting towed. I started taking water in the pits every lap and was still burning up. The sled hill was dredded every time and I wasn't climbing all that well. Zoom in on that hill, I'm up there.

30 minutes in and I'm feeling much better, at least no stomach issues. The pace feels slow, so I attack through a twisty section but get caught near the barriers. I sit on for the next lap and when we hit the long straight along the soccer field, I dropped it a few gears and hammered a solid attack. I look back as I entered the pit area and I have at least 30 seconds on them. Sick! It actually worked. I settle into a pace and now in survival mode with one other guy. He either took a feed at some other point on the course or chose to hold off and drink on the road section. When he was sitting up drinking I was pedalling away on the bell lap. 9th place in the 1/2/3s on a pretty hard course. It wasn't overly technical by any means, but the hills were killer, the heat blasting, and a fast straight course kept the heart rate pegged. All good stuff, but best of all I had the largest fan club out there.