Scenes From Cyclocross Practice #2

We had nine riders at Royal Oaks Park for Tuesday evening cyclocross practice, including a couple of new friends who drove all the way from Wauwatosa. With the temperature still above 80 degrees as we began, we worked up a good sweat this week.

John Beiswenger clears the barriers before heading into the woods.

But we broke more than just a sweat. John snapped his chain early in our practice race, and Ian "The 'Cross Examiner" Prust had to stop due to a saddle issue.

Here's Ian warming up, bike still intact.

The rest of us avoided major mechanical issues. I need new brake pads before next Tuesday, but otherwise the bike is working OK.

Jeff Wren may have a minor chain/derailleur issue ...

but here is the picture that Jeff doesn't want to see:

I completed our 6-lap practice race ahead of Jeff even though I had to stop twice. (Six laps should take nearly 30 minutes, the duration of the Masters Cat 4 races in the WCA series.) Near the end of the first lap I clipped one of the flags that mark our off-camber zig-zags, and on Lap 5 I got tangled in the barriers just before the woods. Each time I stopped to repair the obstacles, and each time I had to close the gap Jeff had opened. Jeff has beaten me in all six of the mountain bike races I have done this year, so it's good to put some doubts into his head about cyclocross supremacy. Again: it's a friendly rivalry, but it's still a rivalry! We'll be back for more next Tuesday.