Montana Cyclocross by Brother Andrew

Here we go again, three races to report on this week, so buckle up for the ride. Wednesday night in Missoula this time of year means cross racing down at fort Missoula. Mr. Montana Cyclocross Shaun Radley was in charge of designing the course this week, and chose to incorporate “the pit of despair” in this week’s course. Having never ridden this section course before, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this “pit.” Well, there is nothing like descending a slope comprised of softball-sized boulders to keep you on your toes. While descending the most common sound that I could hear was the “clank” of the boulders bouncing off of downtubes and chainstays. My main concern was not having a boulder bounce into the stitches, which have been residing in my shin for the past week and a half. Lady luck must have been smiling down on me because my shins avoided damage. In the Men’s A race Bob Presta continued his streak of dominance taking his third win in as many weeks. As for me I was part of the lead group of four heading into the last half. However, I stumbled heading over the final barrier/runup section and lost touch with the leaders, and settled for fourth place.

Friday night was the annual tradition of the beer mile and beer 2 mile, where the combination of athletic events and alcohol came together in complete harmony. Here’s the deal for the beer mile, drink a beer, run a quarter mile, drink another beer run another quarter mile, repeat until you have drank four beers and ran one mile. Since running is not my strong suit I drank and cheered, waiting for the beer 2 mile. For the beer 2 mile, grab a bike, drink a beer, ride a half a mile, just keep that up until you have consumed four beers, and pedaled two miles. Nothing like the pedaling a fixie as fast as you can while a whole bunch of beer is sloshing around in your stomach. The other two aspects that made things enjoyable were 1.) coming to a stop on the fixie to drink the next beer and 2.) having flash pictures taken while riding around a corner, and enjoying the temporary blindness and associated white spots from the flash. In the end I wound up playing the role of bridesmaid with my second place finish.

Saturday and Sunday were scheduled to be the Big Sky and Bozeman for some good old fashioned Montana Cross. All week long the weather reports said that we could expect weather in the mid 20’s and some snow. As the weekend got closer, weather reports said Bozeman might be getting a foot of snow. Friday night I packed four types of gloves, three different hats, two thermal shirts, and every other piece of warm clothing I had in preparation for the two races. During the drive on Saturday, the snow was falling, and the thermometer never read above 30 degrees. We pulled up to the race venue, and sure enough it was cold, windy, and snowing. I counted my lucky stars when I discovered that the bathrooms were heated, providing a pleasant area to change. The course consisted of a long gravel straightaway right into a headwind, some short steep climbs, a section full of woodchips, and plenty of 180 degree turns.

The race started and I had the worst start of my life, but after two laps I managed to pull myself up into fifth place. I spent the next three laps battling with Downtown Joel Brown, and some dude on a mountain bike. With five laps to go I managed to pull away in third place, and hold that until the end. By the time the big boys went off more snow was falling, and it was starting to stick to the course, making for unpleasant conditions. Many of the Missoulians had mechanical issues ranging from flats to a broken seat. In the end Frank Gonzalez of Helena took the big win, and racers gathered for delicious Belgian waffles cooked up by some wonderful volunteers. Everyone left to grab some food and hope that the snow might stop falling sometime soon before Sunday’s race. The snow kept falling and by about 7:00, the city of Bozeman was worried about the race tearing up the local park, resulting in a cancellation of the race. I would have enjoyed racing in the snow, but I was relieved that I wouldn’t have to deal with the frozen toes, and a wind burned face. Until next weekend, keep riding, and keep smiling.

Brother Andrew,