I had some family obligations on the East Coast this fall, and I decided to have my plans include the Pan American Cyclocross Championships in Washington, D.C. The promoters have put on an annual race for more than a decade on the grounds of the Armed Forces Retirement Home just a few miles north of the capital. It is a unique oasis in the city with lots of open space where a fast course was created on grassy hills and short stretches of pavement.
For background, the Pan American championships are held in most cycling disciplines by the UCI and are open to riders from Canada, the United States, and Central/South America. I had been to PanAm’s last year, which were in Missoula, MT, and hoped to improve on my 2nd-place finish.
I pre-rode the course on Friday in dry and dusty conditions, but there was some rain promised for that evening before the championships on Saturday. I dialed in my lines and was lucky enough to ride with some U23 and Elite riders so I could learn the true fast path around some tricky corners and off-camber sections.
Saturday’s race was a 7:50 a.m. start, so I arrived extra early so that I could ride the course to see if the overnight rain had dramatically changed things. Luckily, the rain had not been heavy, so the course had drained well, and the dust from Friday turned into relatively tacky dirt. I had a front-row start, but it took me about 4 pedal strokes at about 50% power before I was fully clipped into my pedal. That took me into the first turn in about tenth spot, and I had to battle for the next twenty minutes to make it up to the group of two leaders, J.F. Blais (current Canadian national champ) and David Hildebrand (the current US national champ).
Once I connected, I put in an immediate attack to see if either one of them would show any weakness. I led for a bit but was unable to create a gap, so I led David take over the lead. Going into the final lap, I attacked again and pushed as hard as I could. David squeezed by me about halfway around the lap, and then we started to catch the leaders of the 50-55 race, which had started thirty seconds ahead of us. In the chaos, J.F. took the lead, and David and I were unable to bring him back. It was just one of the unfortunate things about having multiple groups racing at the same time. I finished in 3rd at 5 seconds back, but this was enough to make the podium!
On Sunday, there was a non-championship race with a much bigger field since a UCI license was not required, and all the local riders came out to try their luck. J.F. and David had already begun their travels home, but there were still fifty other riders to contend with in the 50+ category. I got a much better start and entered the first turns in 5th spot, patiently waiting to move further up until later in the first lap. The dirt was still relatively grippy, and I felt like I knew the best cornering lines since the course was unchanged from Saturday’s race.
I led a lap for so in the middle of the race, but waited until a lap and a half to go for my biggest attack. We were down to a group of three, and I attacked just before a long straight, which was followed by a climb past the start-finish line. I was able to get an immediate gap and pushed for the final lap to win by 10 seconds!
It was a successful racing stint, and now I’ll just do some local races before making the trip to the US national championships in Arkansas in December!
