NC Cyclocross #1 Southern Pines, NC

I never thought mountain biking is south Mississippi would have come in handy but it sure did last weekend.

A lot of trails back home are either covered with pine straw, comprised mostly of sand, or both.

The back half of the race course included 50+ft of sand; deep sand.

I watched the cat 4 masters ride through and saw what not to do. 

I flubbed the start, but I think I passed 8 people on the back half.  A few of them around a some sandy turns. dumb luck or skill? 

Sand trap

The rest of the course was flat, wheel sucking grass. Something I need to practice on.

That helmet just looks silly

I was a bit disappointed with the scene. Courtney's first CX race should have been in the midwest. It wasn't a party atmosphere, maybe Boone will be wilder.
23rd out of 33 in my first Cat 3 race; not bad.

First Cross Race

Photo

Kent Baumgardt

Courtney's fall break just so happened to be during the Gun Club CX race. Obviously a trip to Cincy was in order. Courtney and I hit all our favorite restaurants on Friday and Saturday and Sunday I raced while Courtney Studied.
It turns out I am actually Cat 3 in Cross, probably because I'm Cat 1 in MTB. They let me race Cat 4 since it was my first serious CX race. I've done a few on my mountain bike but more for fun/the challenge than anything.  Cross is huge in the Midwest and probably huger with my teammates.
Cross is a lot of fun, it's defiantly the most family/friend centric type of race.  Everyone had their wives/husbands and kids there to cheer them on.  Mountain bike races generally are the same but you only see the racers once a lap, and there aren't breaks between categories.
I placed 23rd out of the cat4/juniors so not bad.
Hopefully I won't be stomped on at my first cat 3.