Heiser Farms Cross Race

Well - this race was a frustrating lesson in taking responsibility for checking over my bike to make sure everything is attached correctly! Saturday morning I decided to swap out my front chain ring so that I had an easier gear on my San Jose. I went from a 42 in the front down to a 36 so I could spin faster (easier for hills & mud). Thor helped me swap out the parts - and then I dilly-dallied around, drank some coffee, gave Thor a ride to work, came home, realized I was running late (as usual), got my bike down from the bike stand and spun the pedals. SH$*%!! It made a terrible noise - my chain was rubbing on my chain guard. It was too late to try and take it off myself (I am SO SLOW at working on my bike) so I ran to a local bike shop to have them take a look at it on my way to the race. The guy was awesome and said he could put some spacers on right then while I waited - I told him I was on my way to the Heiser Farm Cross Race and we chatted about what the course might be like. Ten minutes and $9 later I had my bike back and was off to the races without a second thought to my bike!

The course at Heiser Farms was awesome - lots of up & down and varied terrain which made for an exciting race. I wasn't very good about lining up...I don't like to shove around so when the B's got called up to the line I all of a sudden found myself in the second row (I'll have to work on that!) I had an okay start and began plugging away -- I wasn't able to pre-ride the course before the race so I started out conservatively since I wasn't sure what was coming or what lines to take. At the end of the first lap I was in about 6th and decided to slowly start working my way up the field. I was having a great race and had just moved into 1st at the end of the 4th lap when it happened - ping! - my chain shot off. I cursed, hopped off my bike, put my chain back on and set off to chase the two girls who had been on my tail and - ping! - my chain came off again! Back off the bike - chain back on - back on the bike - stood up on my pedals and - ping! - instantaneously my chain came off again. Now I was suspicious so I took a better look at my bike when I got off and sure enough -- my wheel had moved foreward in my drop out....sigh...the best I can come up with is that the guy at the shop didn't bolt my rear wheel on tightly enough because I definitely didn't have the sag in my chain when I started, but at this point in the race it was just drooping down between my cog & my chain ring. sniff. So I put my chain back on and started soft pedaling my way around the course. It was really disheartening to get passed by the entire women's field, but I just tried to remember that it was a good lesson to check over my own bike before racing it. I ended up dead last in my field - my first DFL ever....sigh...but at least it was due to a mechanical and not just having a terrible race - up until the whole chain problem I actually thought I was racing really well and was happy with my bike handling in the muddy sections.

I don't actually have any pictures of my race to link to - but check out these amazing B&W shots by PDX Cross from the Heiser Farms race - these guys take beautiful pictures.

Also - here's a video of the men's A race. You won't know anyone in the video, but you can see the course we were racing on!


Heiser Farms Cross A class race from Matt Haughey on Vimeo.