Cyclocross: Not your ordinary bike race
| Sunday, Jan 16 2011 08:47 PM
Last Updated Sunday, Jan 16 2011 09:22 PM
Images
Spectators take pictures and encourage the racers in the Men's Category 4 race as they carry their bikes up a steep hill at Hart Park. Cyclocross racing requires that you carry your bike over some obstacles.
Bakersfield's Albert Vasquez, left, gets a congratulatory hand slap from Clint Stevenson after Vasquez finished the Single Speed race on a fixed gear bike at the California State Cyclocross Championships. The difference between Vasquez's bike and the ones he was competing against is that while the single speeds can coast downhill and over bumps, a fixed gear bike's pedals are in motion the entire time it is being ridden, therfore making it more difficult to race.
Todd Booth speeds past a stone wall as he pedals his way to first place in the Men's Category 4 race at the California State Cyclocross Championships held at Hart Park.
Cyclocross
It's part road bike, part mountain bike, part steeplechase, and it's exploding in popularity around the country, including Bakersfield.
Recent heavy rains treated racers to a classic style Euro course with green grass and awesome track conditions while bringing a little taste of Belgian-like conditions for over 200 riders and roughly 1,000 spectators who jammed the hills at Hart Park to watch So Cal beat Nor Cal 913-454, in the Cyclocross State Championships on Sunday.
However, no one really seemed to care much about the trophy or the points, as much as they did about the event itself, and the camaraderie of this subculture of cyclists.
"I think the vibe was really good and it couldn't have gone better," said Samuel Ames, race coordinator, and manager of Action Sports in Bakersfield, the event's main sponsor, "This is the best event we've done so far, and I think everyone had a great time."
Cyclocross -- cross or CX for short -- combines elements of mountain biking, and road racing on courses that typically require racers to cover multiple laps, sending them powering over grassy fields, jumping over wooded barriers and slogging their way up muddy hillsides.
Sunday's 3.5-K course began with a long stretch of pavement at the start that led riders into twisting switchbacks, fast downhills, a fly over ramp and wide open power sections. But the true test of the day was a pair of back-to-back run-ups that were challenging and proved to be the deciding factor in many of the day's events.
Run-ups require racers to dismount their two-wheeled steeds, slinging it over their shoulder in a single motion while bounding up a steep embankment. Sound painful? It is, but if you ask someone about the joys of cyclocross, with pride and loathing they'll mention the hurt.
"The pain, that's what makes it fun," said Roland Rodriguez, a racer from Bakersfield, "This is my first year doing cyclocross and I am defiantly hooked."
The less-formal nature of the races creates a casual ,yet highly-competitive environment, and, cowbells in hand, families and friends are flocking to these events participating by alerting their favorite oxygen-deprived riders of their position, or to badger fellow riders and friends for going too slow.
"Cyclocross has a cult following, and I think everyone who does it has to be a little masochistic," jokes Lee Stone, rider for team Sheila Moon, a clothing designer that specializes in cyclocross apparel in Northern California, "It's great because it's a party that has a race with it."
In the elite Men's race, a quality field of riders took off and stayed together until 31-year-old Josh Sneed, rider for Team HRS/Rocklobster, and Brent Prenzlow for Celo Pacific Bicycle Racing Team and B&L Bikes, pulled away from the pack, turning in amazing lap times of well under seven minutes.
Cheered on by spectators and fellow racers, the two veterans battled, trading leads several times until the final lap with Sneed crossing the finish line by two lengths.
"I thought I had pretty much lost it going up the last run up," said Sneed, "But Brent hit his shoulder on a tree on the last hill climb, and that opened up just enough of a window for me to take an inside track and sprint it out to the finish."
Ames also turned in a solid race, and was rooted on by his friends and family to a thrilling first place finish as he edged out Prenzlow by a wheel in the men's masters race.
"I love getting out and racing because I am a racer at heart," says Ames the current So Cal Master 40+ Champion, "When you're putting on the event and trying to race at the same time it's brutal, but you get the adrenaline going, and it just works."
Prenzlow, who has won over 100 cyclocross races since 1994, finished first in the men's single speed race.
The highlight of the day was the Bidart and Ablin Hillclimb Challenge. Matthew Alder made his way to the top of an amazing run-up, grabbing $100 in cash and other prizes.
