Dan Action

Florida Cyclocross!?! January 21, 2008

Well, the rumors are true and the ads in Velo News were not the elaborate hoaxes some may of thought they were. Florida has a ‘cross series, and it’s fun as hell.

I went down to the second to last race in the Florida series on Sunday the 20th to try my hand at racing down here. Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. Would it be a crit on the beach? A flat sandy scrub pine course? Who knows.

I was pleasantly rewarded with a course that could of been any race of the ones I’ve known from New England. The course wound around the park outlying the Largo tow library and went from grass switchbacks to trails meandering through the woods to a sand pit, more grass switchbacks with some sharp little repetitive climbs to more woods sections, and to top it all off, through a retention pond mud-pit. Laps were somewhere around 6:30 min., so they were nice and long.

We had had a fair amount of rain in the preceding week and the course was soft and sluggish through many parts. My month long hiatus from racing was apparent through these sections as my recovery time was all but inexistent. A friend from Gainesville, Gary Yates, the Florida points leader in the ‘cross series and all around fantastic rider, led it all through the first half of the lap with me right on his wheel leaving the rest of the field to chase. Gary had a bobble coming out of the sand and I took over the lead, picking the best lines I could on the muddy course. Gary took over the lead, I kept on his wheel for as long as I could but the aforementioned lack of recovery, I could not hold it, within the next two or three laps, Gary had opened up thirty seconds on me, which I could already tell would be insurmountable. The gap between me and third place was even more substantial, leaving me to settle in and make a day of the racing. I became more cautious of my lines and also more attentive to the crowds. I got to sat hi to a few spectators and dogs, respond wittily to a few well meaning heckles. All the friendly stuff you want to do at a cross race.

Speaking of the crowd, maybe the race was sparsely attended compared to a N.E. race, but the all too familiar vibe was in the air. That of fun and camaraderie, and competition mixed with accolades towards your competitors. Cross is pretty much the same here. When I needed the tools of the neutral support offered by Chainwheel Drive, to which I repaid by a few bottles of Harp, Brian and Bruce just kind of looked at each other and as I rode away I heard the remark “That’s cyclocross!”, indeed it is, even in Florida.

Check out these links too: Floridacross.blogspot.com, blogs.tampabay.com/biking