Star City CX Revenge of Captain Seacrest - Cycle

It was my husband & my anniversary, so we both raced it.

The women start 30ish seconds behind the men. I hoped to catch up to my husband during the race. Started with my usual sprint to the chute (funny to say "usual" as this is only my 2nd cx race) and was the first one in. Peddling hard, breathing hard. When I popped out after lap #1 I was surprised to see my dad on the sidelines. I had no idea he was going to be in town!

I enjoyed hearing lots of people I know cheering for me and telling me I was gaining on my husband. Slide out on a turn during the 3rd lap, but popped back up on the bike pretty quickly and was off. Only to end up with a DNR! On the last section of the 3rd lap, I had a great lead on the women's group when my back brake suddenly decided to activate and not let go. I tried everything to get the brake to release with no luck. Debated unhooking the brake (I've raced w/o a front brake before) but decided that was just too dangerous. I've gone over the front handlebars by using just a front brake. Not fun. Decided there was no way I could knock out the last 2 laps and left the course.

Turned out my back wheel/axel had gotten cock-eyed. This was caused by not mounting it tight enough onto the bike. My fault. Not an issue with standard biking, but with all the turns in cross it causes a problem. A bike mechanic knew what it was and fixed it in 5 seconds. Lesson learned. At least I know how to quickly fix it should it happen again.

Very disappointing to DNR. I would have been fine with getting my butt kicked by athletes better than myself, but causing my own failure just stinks.

Tighten the quick release on my wheels before the race.

Didn't really have one. Just chatted with so many people I knew and didn't know who were talking to me. Then we had to jet and feed the kids for our anniversary dinner.


My back wheel.


Fun local race. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in trying cyclocross. Very non-intimidating atmosphere.