Race Report: 2022 Surf City CX Women’s cat B
Race: 2022 Surf City CX - Women’s B’s
Date: October 29 and 30, 2022
AVRT racers: Sharon Newman, Niky Taylor, and Kelly Brennan (except she was racing for Stanford)
Top Result: Niky 1st, Kelly 3rd, Sharon 5th (Saturday) and Sharon 4th (Sunday)
Course: This was a tough course, as can be expected from Rock Lobster. Technical sections included three dusty descents, a giant mulch pile, several runups, multiple off-camber dusty turns, and more. It also had a fair number of straightaways and “power sections” as someone described it to me. It was full-on pure unadulterated cyclocross.
Saturday Recap, by Niky:
My goal going into this race was to not crash. Part of this was self-preservation, but part of it was also that I was on a brand new carbon Otso Waheela gravel bike! It was a huge step up from my steel Soma Double Cross build and I was excited (but cautious) to put it through a race.
The race started with me and Sharon gunning it immediately to get out ahead before the first set of turns. Everything was super dry and dusty and on the third turn I washed out… and crashed. Darn it. Somehow my bike flipped over me and got tangled up with my right leg. I yelled some ~profanity~ and paused for a moment to figure out how to get untangled. By not getting up immediately I worried Sharon, who pulled up to me looking very concerned and asked if I was ok. I responded by telling her WHAT ARE YOU DOING GO GO GO!!! (I thanked her later).
Several riders passed while I was down, including Claire who races for Stanford. I got up and back on the bike (which thankfully was fine besides a skewed shifter) and passed a few people, coming back to position by Sharon. Sharon let me pass her, then I hung out behind Claire through the technical descents and run-ups. Once we made it to the open area I passed her. I was really noticing how much easier everything was with the new lighter bike.
At the beginning of the second lap I reached for my bottle and discovered it was gone. Which was a huge bummer because I was very thirsty and had inhaled approximately 4 metric tons of dust. I tried to signal to a cheering friend that I wanted water by sticking out my tongue. Unfortunately that is a really poor form of communication and didn’t get the point across. Around the same time there’s a picture of me, choking on dust but having a better time than my face implies.
I kept tabs on Claire, who was looking super strong. I had a solid gap but knew I needed to prioritize riding clean if I wanted to keep the lead. So for the rest of the race I focused on clean lines and tried not to think about how desperately I wanted water. Still had a blast getting heckled and yelled at and navigating the fun obstacles signature to Surf City (I particularly liked riding the giant mulch pile towards the end).
When I finished I celebrated by chugging a lot of water and coughing up some dust. It was pretty awesome to get to win this famous local race! Kelly rolled in 3rd even though she had dropped her chain 4 times, and Sharon rolled in 5th for an AV/Stanford podium sweep!
Sunday Recap, by Sharon:
Course updates: Sunday had the same course as Saturday save for an extra mulch section with a sharper loose turn off it.
I warmed up with Claire (Stanford), and tried to do some intervals, but we were too tired to really try hard to warm up. Nonetheless, after a short time, my heart rate was too easily up. Was it the wonderful sleep we got in a tent on mulch with what felt like 20 mph wind? Was it the race from the previous day? Was it a lack of endurance? Who knows.
Right before starting, it was decided we would have a Le Mans start! I have never done an official le man start…so I was torn between nervousness and excitement. Before I could decide which, we were off! Claire and I were able to take off ahead of the group pretty fast (I mounted fine, but struggled a bit to clip in…I need to replace them…). At the first straight away, my goal was to get far away from people as fast as possible, so shot past Claire and we attempted to draft. But alas, too many turns.
This time, I was motivated to run less, and bike more than yesterday (who da thunk to bike more on a bike race). I was less scared of the loose dirt and was able to keep on my bike more than the day before. I knew Claire was technically and more powerful than me, so let her pass. I kept behind Claire for a bit, but soon I was just coating my lungs with her dust, and I could only see her further and further from me. At that point, I resolved to stick to 2nd, and fished for a gummy worm on a fishing pole - cause why not? However, by the last quarter of lap 2, my body was getting super tired. I longed for a caffeine shot blok, not the cupcake handouts. I tried to rally and absorb energy from the heckling – but someone that I thought was a tracklocross person passed me after a run-up, only to realize too late that we were in the same race. I tried to pass, but was just so tired.
Lap 3 was not my greatest. The heckling kept me pedaling, but that was all I could do. I lost another spot at some point, but my brain was very much focused on not eating dirt – not my choice of meal. I managed to not eat dirt, just breathed in more. ( I want to figure out my pacing and improve general endurance on these shorter races– Lap 3 clearly killed me. )
I rallied into lap 4 maybe because there was a set of people behind me, and I had no idea which race they were in, and I was motivated by only a few more minutes of being on my bike and at least staying on the podium! I pulled through and passed two tracklocross racers, but couldn't catch up to 3rd place. Finally, I grabbed a (partial) beer hand off, crushed it, jumped over a few logs, and bolted to the finish, afraid to look back.
Oof. Some people tried to talk to me at the finish line, but I needed to keep rolling otherwise I’d keel over. Once I recovered, I downed a lot of water, took a semi-shower with a hose, and eventually found myself packing up my tent and cheering for Nico on his As race! Overall, Type 1.5 fun, and 10/10 would do again while choosing to forget lap 3. May the dust not coat my lungs forever.