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‘Cross Nationals, 50-54 Masters

December 12, 2009

Bend, Oregon

Oh yea, let’s do the cross nationals; it’ll be fun (note the tone of sarcasm in the statement). Being a guy who grew up here in Southern California, riding in the mud and snow is really not my “cup of tea” but one of Platinum Performance’s newest members, Jon “Coach” Miller made it sound like so much fun. That darn guy (Coach) talked me into going a couple years back in Kansas; I did indeed get on the plane to Kansas but ended up in Negative Town instead. That year I learned, however, that if one is to have a good experience, one needs to have a good attitude so in the following two years I’ve done my best to work that angle. Regardless of conditions I was bent on smiling a lot and then working as hard as possible to appropriately represent our so cal cyclists demographic.

I was happy to learn while checking in that, due to Ned Overend moving up to the 55-59 class and Henry Kramer’s retirement, that I’d be getting the first call up. Having some trouble with health this year along with 103 folks pre-registered, I was thinking this may be the highlight of my weekend. I called out to my lovely wife, “Linda, make sure to get a picture ‘cause it could go downhill quickly from there”.

Later that day (Friday) Gary Douville and I went out for a few practice laps to check conditions, find the good lines, and make sure we could hit the tough sections without incident; unfortunately about a thousand of our friends had the same idea so plans of doing any hot laps were soon quelled. Nonetheless were able to identify problem areas and get a good idea of what we needed to do on Saturday.

The next morning my class, 50-54 Masters was the first group to go (race at 8:30 AM) so I showed up at 7:45 to get in a couple laps to re-check lines. This is where things got dicey as I experienced a dang heart arrhythmia during the second lap and knew my day was over. “Linda, really make sure to get that shot of that start.” In spite of my adolescent, party-monster behavior, I’m also a devote Christian so there was not shortage of praying for a good event without heart trouble; I was blessed with just that.

The gun went off promptly at 8:30 AM leading us down a long, asphalt straight into a left turn that took the group up and into what used to be grass (now frozen dirt and snow). I figured I’d go as hard as I could until the ol’ ticker did its thing and then do my best to finish. Coming out of the first turn I was riding around 4^th or 5^th and then made a couple of moves putting myself into 2^nd going into the “forest” section. The leader had trouble in a tight right hander sliding out on some ice—and nearly taking me with him. However, I was able to get around and then heard some trouble behind me (wheels sliding, bikes a crashin’). Not one to be very patient I decided to attack and [at least] not to let anyone suck wheel. “Holy smokes, I’m in front at a cross national!” I figured it would be fun just to see how long I could make it last and nearly made it to the end of the first lap when we entered a run/ride up section and I faltered on some ice and was forced to dismount which allowed a motorcycle hero of mine from way back; multi-time National Enduro Champion, Kevin Hines, to pass.

I did my best not to be too star-struck and keep Kevin in sight and actually made up some ground on lap 3 (“hey, my heart’s okay!”) but he saw me coming back and then threw down some great laps and got his sizable lead back. I fell down a couple times (everyone fell a couple times), but was able to get through the event without any heart trouble and finish in second about 45 seconds behind Mr. Hines and about the same in front of third place Rich Cramer. Whew, that was a sort of miracle.

The ride of the day, however, was the man who finished 4^th, Thomas Price. This guy crashed on the start straight and broke his chain forcing him to run with his bike to the pit area to get his backup machine. Fortunately the pit wasn’t too far into the lap but it put him at the back of the huge field. Passing on this course was no easy task so finishing fourth was darn super-human. He made a lot of fans that day.

At the end of the day, regardless of finishing position, the event turned out to be more about the experience. It was like falling in love with cycling all over again and getting to enjoy the sights and sounds of a complete spectacle. It really is a spectacle; in fact my voice is still crackly from all the screaming for my pal Gary and the others from down south. Speaking of which, you should have seen what Gary did in the Elite class; an unbelievable performance coming from WAAAAAY back (started 92^nd) to finish 36^th among a field of more fast people than I’ve even seen in my life. Bravo Gary! So, “come on, let’s all do the cross nationals next year, it’ll be fun!” Thanks COACH!!!!

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