At the end of a long season of bike racing, I set off for one last adventure in Fayetteville, AR, for cyclocross nationals. I had never been to Arkansas before and had heard great things about the investment in cycling that this community has taken on over the last few years. The race was in Centennial Park in Fayetteville, which was a purpose-built cyclocross venue that was created to host the cyclocross world championships back in 2022. Our course was slightly different than the world’s since they had taken out a fairly large climb, but the signature run-up on a long flight of stairs was still a prime feature.
Cyclocross has had a special place in my heart, and I have been going to nationals on and off since about the year 2000 when I was a much younger elite racer. But I never achieved a spot on the podium until my years as a master racer and have had a string of top 5 placings but never a win. So I did my best this fall to prepare by racing the local California events and focusing on short efforts and quick recovery. I knew that I had a good shot at the title after my win at MTB nationals this summer reinforced my belief that I could achieve top form.
So I rode lots of course laps the day before the event and dialed in my lines on the dry course, which was mostly covered with grippy crabgrass. One of the tricky sections was the set of barriers that were on an uphill with just a few turns before the flat pavement sprint finish. It was critical to have pre-shifted to an easy gear before dismounting for the hurdles so that you could remount and sprint uphill.
I had a 3:15 p.m. start on race day, so I had more time to ride some laps and also watch some of the earlier races. I had a number two call-up to the start line based on last year’s results, but I needed to beat last year’s champ, David Hildebrand, who has more fast-twitch sprinting muscles than I will ever achieve. I got off to a decent start in about 6th place going into the first turns and patiently worked my way up to lead the group at the end of the first lap.
My strategy was to lead as much as possible with a fast pace that would keep the front group small. That was successful, and it came down to just David and me on the last lap. But he had been able to sprint around me to lead into corners whenever he desired, so I committed to passing him back and jacking up the pace in hopes of forcing him to make a mistake. I was not able to get a gap on the stairs or any of the other features, and David passed me before the last set of barriers.
I knew that I was slightly faster over the barriers, so I made sure that I entered with a clean line and with my bike in an easy gear. I ran past David just after the dismount and had a smooth transition onto the bike with a full sprint effort up the hill. As I crested the top, I took a quick look behind me and realized that David was nowhere to be found! His shifting into an easier gear had not worked, and perhaps he set his bike down too aggressively after the barriers so that his chain bounced to the smallest cog. I had time to enjoy my first cyclocross national championship victory as I cruised to the line!
