Xilinx, and what never was

talk about a crummy day for racing. i was really looking forward to this pro-style venue all week. As a result, along with the continued Indian Summer up here, I managed about 6hrs of riding this week. And even a bit of intensity mid-week. Nonetheless, we pull up to Xilinx and get a good parking spot. I hop on my bike to go register, and get about 20 feet before I hear the awful-but-familiar sound of my rear rerailleur seizing. I stop immediately, but the damage is already done. My hanger is bent and torqued. My derailleur cage plates are bent to hell and partially wrapped around my spokes. Beat beat. I pull back to the car, and then went over to the Mavic neutral service guys. Talk about a sweet hook...pro-level mechanics working on thrashed cross bikes for free! The tech saw my rear drivetrain and didn't look too optimistic. As it turns out, the Kona rear derailleur hangers are very soft metal. So he bent it as good as he could, but it still was too torqued and wasn't going to hold the chain line. So Mark Thompson is nice enough to offer me his pit bike. I swap out pedals, and get about ten yards before I HEAR THE SAME AWFUL NOISE. it can't be. it is. I manage somehow, without even shifting, to tear Thompson's rear hanger completely off the bike!! Un-freakin-believable. unfathomable. At this point, the thought of probably not racing wasn't as difficult as telling Mark, who was right there, what happened. He is a cool cat and was fine with it. Knowing I owed him a new der hanger (and maybe a new r. derailleur as well), I apologized about 3 times and then went back to my car. On the way back to see Helen and Alina and tell them my latest luck, I ran into Brett. He said I could ride Nat Ross's Spot singlespeed, complete with what seemed like a hybrid bullhorn/TT bar setup, AND a belt drive. Wow, not a good course for a single, but beggars can't be choosers, so I raised the seat a hair, spun it around the parking lot some, thanked him profusely, and rolled back to the start. Somehow I managed a weak 13th place call-up or so, which meant second row, out of about 10 rows of starters. Big field, but not surprising given it was in Boulder, at Xilinx, and a BCR (Best Cyclocross Rider) series race. I knew my good position would not last long with the long uphill start and whatever one gear I had to spin. Sure enough, the official started us, and a swarm of riders took off. I went from about 7th to 27th in the blink of an eye. I stood up (I did a lot of that in the race) and tried to respond, only to hear a noise from the drivetrain. Not a bad noise, but enough to make me slow down, and not want to break a third bike. The parking lot sweeper quickly spit us back onto the dirt, with the help of a cool HUP-HUP ramp. Then some BEAUTIFUL sweeping downhill turns on the grass, shoot over the gravel and then down into the grass. We made some more sweepers in the bumpy grass, across an abrupt, but small, muddy ditch, then back uphill for a very difficult 1/4mi drag up a singeltrack of grass and gravel. That was super tough on the singlespeed, forcing me to stand up and just rock my body back and forth, doing anything possible to eek out more momentum and power. On top of all this, my pedals were too tight, so dismounts were pre-mature and awful. Ironically, I really enjoyed the pavement sections, and the sand volleyball court, through which I rode 100% clean and fast 4 out of the 6 laps. The other 2 were slow, ugly, inefficient dismounts. Nice spectrum of form out there for me on the borrowed bike, but let me say I was just happy and grateful to be out there racing, on a fantastic course, after 2hrs of driving down from the high country. I don't know my result yet, but surely it wasn't in the top 25, maybe even top 40...who knows. But I did finish, I didn't break the borrowed bike, and I had a damn good workout. Probably a bit overboard for my lower back, but I'll deal. Best of all, my swollen and discolored ankle felt okay. I gingered a few places, but the brace and the tight shoe provided a nice amount of support. I think I am going to be in very good shape for the Boulder Cup this year.