I think I'm gonna kill myself.

[Digital_photog]

I think I'm gonna kill myself. This hell hurts. I survived.

After doing several long bike rides. Hilly Hundred, To Bourbon and back and a couple 100 mile rides in Michigan I decided to try something different.

Cyclocross
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Plan to ride in the beginner class on November 13 at Bendix Woods County Park, west of South Bend. 30 minutes of hell. I'm sure that at 61 years old I will be one of the older ones competing. Hope I don't embarrass myself too bad. I have set up a course similar to what they use here at home and have been riding speeds that should keep up with most in the C class. This will be my first cycle racing in nearly 40 years. Anyone want to make bets on if I will survive this craziness?

Video of the C class at the first race of the series.
TK Lawless County Park in MI
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XP00DBn5C1o[/ame]

 

[JohnP82]

Good for you! Best of luck and I am betting you will do just fine!

Let us know how it goes.

 

[Pami]

Ah, Good luck! One of Lars' co-workers is talking about getting back into cyclocross. Have fun with that! :*

 

[Harry2110]

Good lucky I have been to tons of cross races just not raced yet as I just got my cross bike. I am training with the ohio state champ and hoping to race next year. I have rode the courses and they seem alot of fun to race. Im going to be at the usgp next weekend in louisville.

 

[zoglog]

Ill read you my ACE card.

That is some fun stuff one of my buddies has tried to get me into it. But I just like road.

 

[fochman]

Age is only a number. Enjoy the competition. Keep the icy hot & ibuprophen handy.

 

[Hoosier Gun Coat]

Go for it! You only live once. Check out Steve Tilford's blog. He is a cyclocross stud.....and he's 51. I rode the Berryman Epic a few weekends ago and he was there and won the event. I can honestly say that I was 10 feet from Steve Tilford, until the gun went off. It was a 56 mile mountain bike race. I finished in a little over 7 hours, Steve finished in a little over 4. I wanted to ride the Hilly but it was the weekend before Berryman. Good luck to you it sound like a lot of fun.

 

[Digital_photog]

I intend to have fun no matter how I finish. I'll push as hard as I can and don't expect to beat the experienced riders. My cousin who will be riding in the A class thinks I can finish in the middle of the pack in C. I will be very happy if I do that. Watching me ride he told me to work on mounts and dismounts. My ride yesterday afternoon will probably be my last real long conditioning ride before the race. This week the rides will be shorter so I am not too sore to start the race.

 

[Digital_photog]

Well, It's race day. You will hear from me tonight if I'm not dead.

 

[Digital_photog]

It was a tough race. 17 started 15 finished. I was 14th. Was in 9th when I threw my chain off in a shift. Lost 5 places that I couldn't recover after fixing it. I'm tired and sore but it was fun. Pictures soon. I was the second oldest racer there.

 

[nalees]

Great job!

 

[Digital_photog]

Instead of posting a lot of pictures here I will post a link to those I took of the A and B classes. Most of those racing were from 18 to 40 years old. Not over 60 like 2 of us. Note that the old geezers didn't finish last.

Link to the pictures
RunUp Cyclocross-Bendix Woods

 

[steve666]

If not, leave me your guns.

 

[Harry2110]

Why not race masters 55+

 

[Digital_photog]

Why not race masters 55+

This series of races doesn't have a masters category. 3 classes C, B and A.
All ages in any of the classes although A didn't have many if any over 40.

 

[Harry2110]

This series of races doesn't have a masters category. 3 classes C, B and A.
All ages in any of the classes although A didn't have many if any over 40.

ok so they dont use the uci cat but instead it sounds like a usa cycling cat system. I kinda prefer the uci system as it separates it more into cat 1-4 u23, junior 12-14, 15-18 and masters 35+ 45+ 55+ but the uci have alot more rules involved into what you can have on a bike. Was this race part of the ovcx series?

 

[Digital_photog]

Most of the sanctioned races here are usa cycling. This was a local unsanctioned series of races. While most were honest and entered the class they should be in a few will enter a lower class so they can get a sure win. We had one do that in C. One did it in B and thought he would run away with the race. When he was running in the middle of the class he dropped out. Said he would rather DNF than finish last or close to it. Lost a lot of respect for both of them because of that. Being my first cyclocross race my goal was to finish. I did that and even was running in the middle of the class. Very few were over 50 years old. We had a lot of good races in the classes between similar competitors. The other guy over 60 was a regular racer but we still had a very good competition between us. Back and forth on who was ahead the whole race.

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Also check out the facebook page with more pictures.
https://www.facebook.com/pages/RunUP-Cyclocross/279657608714975?sk=info

The system isn't perfect but we have fun.