Beban Cross

The first cross race of the season was on Sunday.
I was going to ride up to Nanaimo and just hang around and take photos and stuff, and Hilary wanted to come too.
On Saturday I was planning on going mountain biking - I haven't been in about a month - but really wasn't motivated (still angry about missing the Whistler/North Shore trip?), so I dug to the bottom of the tire pile for the cross tires that Dale had given me, and a dented palm and broken nail later I was at the bike shop for a bigger cassette - but they didn't have one. The bike felt completely different with the big tires on. It felt like a mountain bike. I rode around town a bit, and had a scary moment when making a sharp right. The tires have side-to-side ridges down the center, but lengthwise knobs on the edges. When I rolled onto the knobs, I felt the bike squirm as the knobs moved, which is a bit scary when you're not expecting it. I rode with Hilary home from the market, then we went on a ride along the trail that goes to Lake Cowichan. We got as far as Tansor, then came back. After I left Hilary's I did the same trail but a bit faster. The faster you ride, the less you feel the bumps, and you realize that a cross bike will take a lot of stick.
The plan for Sunday changed and Hilary and I were going to drive up in her car, then she decided not to go. Katie and Roland had very kindly offered me a ride, so I rode up with them.
I got to the race to find that I couldn't shift through my gears - which Kurt fixed (temporarily?) with some lube on the shifter cables - thanks Kurt!I entered the "Open Women's" rather than the beginner class. There was 11 of us on the start line, and we were on the track with the Masters. The course was a good one for the start of the season: very flat - which I was glad about as I'd been in the bike shop to get a 12-27 cassette, but they didn't have a 9-speed, and I'd thought I had a 11-25, but it's a 11-23, and I've got a road double in the front. My lowest is 39-23, where most others seemed to have 36-27. The race organizers had taken out the run-up by the tennis courts, and replaced it with a sandpit followed by a log, which was the first dismount of the course (the other two being a set of stairs, and the barriers). The only place I would have liked a lower gear is the ramp up at the beginning of the BMX track, but I made it up each time.
I noticed at the start that my rear tire was very squishy - but it was too late to fix. I felt the rim hit the ground on every bump on the entire course. I've no idea how I didn't actually pinch flat. My back wheel was stepping out on the tight corners (were there any corners that weren't tight?), and it felt like the tire was rolling off on the off-camber bit before the bleachers.
And if there was an award for the slowest barriers, I'd be the champion.
My time was 59:11 according to the time sheet emailed out, but it didn't feel like an hour.
I spent the rest of the taking photos and videos of the other races. I'm really getting the hang of the video thing - and cyclocross races are great practise, because you can set up a shot and film one ride flying through the frame, play it back, and make changes, then film the next rider. I got some really good clips: I set the camera up on the ground on the outside of the corner where the gravel turns to grass on the intermediate first lap, where all the riders were bunched up, and got a clip of them all taking the corner, including Louis taking out half the cones and nearly the camera. I wrapped my GorillaPod around the railing on the bleachers and filmed the off-camber swoopy bit. I set the camera up in the flower bed by the little bridge, and got riders riding through the frame over the humped-back bridge, including reflection in the pond. I got the big banked corner on the BMX track. I got riders re-mounting after the barriers one after the other. I got the stairs. I got lots of good wheel shots. And loads of good photos too.
By the middle of the whirly-whirl time trial my first memory card was full, so I stuck the second one in.
Got home. Nothing's coming off the first card.
I'm a little miffed.
It wasn't even one of them cheap no name cards.