2017 Humboldt Park Cyclocross

The old, now grass-covered track at neighboring Bay View High School proved an appropriate place to warm up!

This was a super fun weekend of bike racing! I really enjoyed myself yesterday in the WEMS race at New Fane, and today I had an absolute blast in my cyclocross season debut at Humboldt Park in Milwaukee. I’m in a new subcategory this year and if today’s race was any indication of what is to come, then I expect this to be a great season.

I didn’t win today—I didn’t even make the podium. I finished 7th of 9 in the Masters 35+ Cat 3 race. But that’s OK. I wouldn’t have been competitive in my old race, Masters 50+ Cat 1/2/3. I haven’t lost anything. Today’s race played out exactly as I thought it would. In my own subcategory I always had someone to chase and someone to elude, and I caught the last few guys in the singlespeed and Elite Cat 3 waves that started before me. I got lapped by Cat 1 singlespeed strongman Carlos Casali (Intelligentsia Coffee) near the end of the race and even that was OK because I hung with him for a little while, testing myself. In the end, that’s all I want: people to race with and against … and a little success against racers close to my own ability. That’s not Casali, who won both singlespeed races this weekend and the Masters 35+ Cat 1/2/3 race earlier today. Mark Schultz (Heavy Pedal Velo Club) was today’s winner in Masters 35+ Cat 3. I was sorry to miss Saturday’s WCA series opener, Cross-Shooshko, where Dan Hendricks (unattached) was the Masters 35+ Cat 3 winner. It will be a few weeks before some kind of pecking order emerges and I know who my new rivals are.

Today’s race was dry, warm, and something of a track meet: there were few technical elements to the Humboldt Park course and I enjoyed staying on the gas. We’ll see if my enthusiasm dips when I come up against a twisty course with lots of slick, off-camber turns!