Cyclocross Season 2009: Cross Crusade #7 at Portland International Raceway
Nov. 8, 2009
Women’s Masters A 35+ 12th place
By Elaine Bothe
Crazy. But still fun!
Lessee… that last week started with a madcap drive home from Seattle Saturday night after the WMRRA banquet. We pulled in at 3:00 am, I woke up in time for breakfast and a warmup ride to PIR for Cross Crusade Round 7 just in time to start. That race was cold, rainy, muddy and super fun. After a not-so-good start I passed lots of people in tricky off-camber and muddy sections, and stayed ahead of them. I caught up to Eileen, but I couldn’t hang with her on the long straight dry gravel road sections. Plus I thought it was the last lap and kind of burned out my legs trying to beat her to the finish line, when we actually had one more lap! Oh well…. Back to the car for warm clothes and food.
Wish I could have hung around for the single-speed cyclocross world championships (SSCXWC for short!) later that day. They sent our race through the Thunderdome where spectators could climb up and throw marshmallows at you but the Stripper Shortcut wasn’t set up for us, um, ha ha!
I managed 12th place, one of my best finishes of the cross series in Women’s Masters 35+ A! I’ll take it. Yay! I’m #12! I’m #12!
The above photo taken by Mark Bothe. I’m about to put the move on the rider in black.
See some truly amazing photographs at www.pdxcross.com, including Thunderdome and costumes, courtesy of www.pdxcross.com.
Photos of the normal PIR race are in this gallery at www.pdxcross.com.
