DCCX 100 meter special

My second Sunday in the USA, my second CycloCross race! This was right in Washington DC, and although I’ve been sick, I once again had entered this event weeks ago, and wasn’t too keen on loosing that huge US entry fee, so I went to the race and figured I'd caugh around the course once more and have fun taking in the cool US CX scene.

It was a sunny yet chilly afternoon in DC, I was feeling a little better than I had done during the week, and I was looking forward to a nice day of fun.

The start line was amusing, as guys yelled and fussed and complained about where they were starting and about the officials calling them to the start (or not calling them to the start) when they thought they should be. I wondered if this was the world champs or something. The guy standing next to me, Ryan Dewalt (sp?), seemed as perplexed as I did about the fuss, he seemed to roll his eyes, not care where he was starting, and then of course went off to win the event with a commanding lead. I liked that!Just before the start, a USA cycling person complained about how I had put my number on. I had actually put it on all sideways like they do over here, so I was pretty happy I’d remembered to put it on that way, But she wasn't happy with it for some reason. I guess she mustn’t have been to too many races, so she had her little winge (though I'm still not really sure what about) and life went on. It was all a pretty moot point for me anyway. As the gun went off, I started slowly but was relatively well places in the 1^st half of the pack, and just as we went onto the first bit of grass, about 100meters after the start, my front tire went flat and that was the end of the day.

Ryan Dewalt and Warrenton kid Joe Dombrowski rode away from everyone. Ryan won, dare I say “easily” and Joe showed off some of his Belgian experience to win the Espoir race and finish 2^nd overall. Interestingly enough, Joe got zero recognition for winning the Espoir category, and as I understand it having spoken to Joe about it after the race, the US (or maybe it is just this general area) doesn’t recognize the Espoirs.

It was a good day out. Now I just hope I can get semi-healthy even if the idea of getting fit is pretty much out of the picture at this stage of the year, get out there and do a few more CX races, have fun and make the most of being able to do a few US CX races on fun and cool courses unlike the boring once back home in France.