What a great way and race to end the cross season.
I had never really thought too much about single speed cross racing. JD Bilodeau did it for quite a few years and seemed to have lots of fun doing it. I did 3 races of the NY Cross series this year and they had single speed races at them all. One of those races was the Bennington VT race. This is where I began to think that maybe I should get a bike going so I can do some of the races. Unfortunately that was going to be the last NY Cross race I was doing for the year. I had pretty much put it out of my mind and thought I would do some next year if time and the new baby allowed.
When the Ice Weasels Cometh race was put onto the schedule late into the season, I checked out the details and saw that I would not be able to do the masters/elite race that was in the afternoon due to a previous commitment. But, there was going to be a single speed category that went off at noon. That would leave plenty of time to race and get out of there and get to the Nutcracker in time.
I had to rip apart the Surly that I had set up for touring this summer and set it up as a single speed. This is the only bike I have with dropouts that would allow for a single speed. I pulled off the handlebars which had the shifters, and the derailleurs. I wouldn't need them. A few other modifications and I was all set to go.
I wasn't quite sure what gear ratios would be good for cross racing or for this course in particular but from what I had read 39x17 sounded like a good start. Colin (the race promoter) also recommended this ratio and said that there was not much elevation change at the course. I did not want to be changing cogs right before the race so I put three different sized cogs (15, 16 & 17) on the wheel. With this setup I would be able to quicky move the chain from one cog to another and change my gear ratio slightly to suit the course.
Once at the venue I did a few laps on the course and found that 39x17 should be just right! I didn't do much of a warm up but I was not anticipating the race starting a blistering pace. And it didn't. Not much effort at the whistle easily got me into first place into the first corners and I led it around for a while until Cort Cramer and Mike Rowell came by. The three of us rode together for most the race. With about 2.5 laps to go I started going through the corners a bit faster and accelerating harder out of them. I quickly got a gap and kept it going til the end for the win.
That sure was fun, and I didn't miss having gears at all.! I think that in part was due to the course being a good one for single speed. The straights weren't long enough to get going super fast so there was no crazy spinning out. The hills weren't so steep that the gear was too big either. These guy did a great job with the resources that they had. A race in a back yard does not get much better than that.
All in all it was a great season for me. My legs felt great for all but maybe 3 weekends (which 3 weekends those were should be obvious by my results). I had tons of fun and really enjoyed racing in the masters field. They have really, really fast guys but I am able to race competitively in that category. I met lots of nice guys that pushed me hard every race.
"Don't cry becuase it is over, smile because it happened!" - Often attributed to Dr. Seuss. I am trying very hard to do so. Every year at the end of the season I wish that I could do just a few more cross races, then I will be done. I want the season to keep on going. This year I have done 34 races. By far more than I have done in any other cross season. Lots of weekends I was able to do 3 races by doubling up the masters and elite races in one day. It still does not seem like enough! I didn't do any 4 race weekends this year. Maybe next year. Do you think that will be the cure? No, me either! Only 9 months to go!
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