|
Cyclocross season has arrived. Brian "Freight Train" Frykman and I, Brad
Morgan, kicked off our 'cross season a week ahead of Montana's scheduled
'cross opener by attending the inugural running of Moosecross in Victor, ID.
It was a great event, with an awesome course, good prizes, and good
compition- including some friendly and familiar faces from Bozeman's Team
Muleterro. The course featured a tough chicane section, a double barrier
followed immediatly by a steep run up, multiple TIGHT corners with loose dirt
or gravel, some banked turns, a triple barrier, and even some whoop de doos.
It was pretty cool.
I arrived a little late, and Brian was already throwin' down in the Masters
race. There was on guy off the front, and Freight Train was in the second
group of three riders battling it out. Brian stayed right in there, and
finished in third place in a hard faught battle for the podium. It was a
great race for Brian, but it was just a warm up, as he planned on racing the
CAT 3 race later in the day. The guy who won way off the front was a Pro
mountain biker, who also won the CAT 1,2 cyclocross race later the same day. 
Brian and I both raced in the CAT 3 race. Call ups were based on
registration, Brian pre-registered and started in the front row, and I
registered on race day and started in the back of an approximatly 25 rider
field. I had a terrible start. First, I couldn't get clipped in(rookie!),
then I got boxed in and couldn't get around many riders before we were into
the tight chicane section. I could hear the announcers saying there was a
group af two getting a gap off the front while I was virtually not moving near
the back of the pack. Once out of the seemingly never ending chicanes, I
tried to put the hammer down and get by some traffic on a long dirt section.
I passed a few racers, and caught Brian near the double barrier run up
section. Then I passed a few more on a long grass and bike path power
section. I went throught the barriers well, and just before the start/finish
I found myself finally on the wheel of the two leaders. However, I was
definatly feeling my hard effort to bridge to them. One rider attacked, and I
couldn't follow. I stayed with the second place rider for a while, then, once
recovered slightly, I powered away, once again in chase of the leader. 
I dug deep and caught the leader just before the triple barrier, and was right on
his wheel entering a hard left into the whoops, when I went down HARD (I'm
really not that good at this). Though I think I was up and riding again
quickly, my crash opened up a pretty good gap, and once again I was forced to
chase. I was gaining a little ground when I overcooked a corner in the
chicanes, and went down again (O.K., I suck at this). Now the gap increased
again, and I even got passed. I tried to pull it together, recovered a
little, and got around the second place rider. 
I put in a huge effort and closed the gap to the leader a little, then went down again(told you I suck)
in a loose banked turn. With a couple laps left, it looked like I might still
have a chance, as the leader seemed to be fading. In the end I just couldn't
catch him, and had to settle for second. Brian was hanging in there close to
us leaders until about mid race when he flatted and that was it for him. It
was really a cool event that I would recommend attending. 
Next up for the G.A.S 'cross team will be Copper Mountain Cross in Butte,
where I predict John "In A Hurry" Curry will put on a clinic and ride away
with the win(no pressure John).
Brad photos by Tawnya Morgan
|
Racing 
