The Cat 3 Schmuck: Planting Seeds
Wednesday, November 22 nd , 4:00PM. Most people are escaping the office, packing their cars, or already on the road to relatives' houses to be reminded of how weird these people are and why they only visit them once a year, then to gorge themselves on poultry and take a nap. I, on the other hand, having just finished with my last client of the day am out on what was Saturday's cyclocross course throwing down handfuls of ryegrass seed.
All of the nice green grass that sprouted with our October rains that fooled us into thinking the drought was ending now has a ribbon cut through it by about 140 knobby tires making numerous laps each last Saturday. Provided that we get a little rain in the next week or so, we'll have a nice ribbon of sprouts holding the soil down and leaving us with happy property owners who will allow us to come back next year.
Just as I'm now planting seeds for next year's race venue, I hope that by promoting a ‘cross race in Fort Worthians' back yard on an annual basis and designing the most fun course I can dream up, I've been planting seeds for the growth of cyclocross in Texas. Hopefully, those who are trying ‘cross for the first time will have so much fun that they will seek out other ‘cross races to travel to in addition to coming back to my race next year. Meanwhile, ‘cross veterans will tell their friends how fun this event was, and those friends will come out next year and try ‘cross for the first time, at which point, I am convinced, they will be hooked.
I tried ‘cross for the first time on my mountain bike in 1998, just months after graduating from college and moving from Waco to “the big city” of Fort Worth. Boyd Atherton was promoting the “Dead Dog” ‘cross series in a funky sandlot on the border between Fort Worth and Arlington. By the standards of the ‘cross courses we're using these days, it was far from scenic—downright Spartan, in fact. Boyd designed fun courses, though, and I was hopelessly hooked after the first time. Two seasons later, I had bought a used Independent ‘cross bike that's still serving me well today.
Over the years, I've seen ‘cross in Texas grow dramatically from having only Mens A, B, and C races and Women's combined fields to having separate AandB races for women and age groups for masters and juniors. The turnouts in the late 90's couldn't have exceeded 40-50 riders per day. The first year we promoted ‘cross races in Trinity Park, we drew 50-55 entrants per day. Now, we're up to over 70 entrants. That's about a 30% increase over six years. . These numbers seemed good, until I heard through a teammate that Nick Weighall, who recently moved to Portland, that they have weeknight ‘cross training rides there at which 125 people show up. The east coast seems to be drawing similar numbers to ‘cross as well.
Houston races, on the other hand, easily draw around 90 entrants per day. They also have weekly ‘cross training rides. They have organized well, and it's working. Houston has also been the birthplace of Texascyclocross.com, which became a great way for ‘crossers to communicate and organize remotely. This year, txbra legitimized us with our own discussion forum
This year and last year, Mother Nature has been hard on our ‘cross seasons, as the hot dry weather has been lingering well into our early season and showing us that ‘cross is a cold-weather sport for a reason. It's just a miserable style of racing in the heat. In addition to the climate obstacles to our ‘cross season, our ever-extending road season has begun to infringe on both the beginning and end of ‘cross season, forcing those who want to develop some aerobic base for spring to make difficult choices in ‘cross season.
What I love about ‘cross is that, like mountain bike racing, ‘cross is what I consider to be “good honest racing”. Usually, the fittest, most talented rider with the best skills wins the race. Lately, though, we've begun to see enough parity at some races with fast-enough courses that small groups develop, incorporating some drafting and strategic racing. I have no complaints about this, because the conditions of ‘cross ensure that without each member of a group being comparably fit, the strategic calculation doesn't rule the racing. It just serves to make ‘cross races more interesting, and more fun. It also serves to push each of us to dig a little deeper to keep pace than we could while riding solo.
What is truly exciting is to see the A race fields growing deeper and stronger as more and more veteran cat 1's and 2's come and try it out. This makes ‘cross season the only time of year that I get to line up with so many riders of superior talent and actually feel almost competitive with them.
To be perfectly honest, I don't have much love for the race-promoting process. It's stressful and laden with small details, which I don't care for. I don't feel that I'm very well suited for the job either. However, when I decided to start doing this, it was because no one else was, and it needed to be done, in my opinion. If I didn't do it, no one else would. The ends justifies the means, though, as I think it has served to create more interest in ‘cross as well as more devotees to the discipline. It also appears to have increased sales of ‘cross bikes at the local shops. The results haven't been instant, or even quick, but the seeds are being planted, the roots are taking hold, and the leaves are sprouting. It's worth all of the trouble.