CX Vegas: Eye of the Unicorn

I think this was my fourth Interbike and every year, people ask me if I’m doing CX Vegas. In previous years, the answer was always no because I didn’t have a bike. This year, not only did I have a bike, but I also had my unicorn Team Super Awesome skinsuit! CX is a discipline I can see myself becoming heavily involved in when I need a break from ultra endurance mountain biking, for now, it’s merely a fun tree topper ornament to my already packed race schedule. Rule number 1: Keep it fun…and in a unicorn skinsuit with heart and rainbows, it’s pretty easy!

Pre-race Interview 1

Pre-race Interview 2

Sarai at Girl Bike Love applying Tatt

grrrr darling, grrrr!!!

The pro race is no joke attracting fast international CX stars. I felt funny lining up in such a serious field because let’s be honest, I wasn’t taking the race seriously. I was 9 days out of the Vapor Trail, a 17.5 hour mountain bike race and stood at the Ergon booth for 10 hours all day before the race. I was there for one reason – to cause a ruckus! I tried to wear my helmet cam, but UCI rules do not allow it. I was also shocked that all of us got our tires measured. There were 60 number plates and call ups. I was number plate 53… which was also my call up position. Back row!

The course was very long for a CX course. One lap was about 9 minutes. The barrier sections were also more challenging than other races I’ve done because instead of 2 or 3, there would be 4 in a row. It only took a couple laps for my lack of CX practice and fitness to shine through! And yes, I did trip and fall down once. Super pro! My CX practice was the warm up lap on the course. It was also funny to be on a narrow, road bike curly handlebar compared to my super wide MTB flat bar!

The gun went off and the start was furious. It didn’t take long for a group of us to get dropped from the lead pack. I tried to settle into my pain and to look around. There were SO many spectators cheering! It was awesome and made the pain worth it. Thanks for all the cheers…. and thanks to Kerry for the marshmallow and then the cupcake handup (although I failed to take the cake!)

Hey! Wait for me!

I did have people around me to race, so it wasn’t boring, but man, did it hurt. I never go that hard in my mountain bike races. After 2.5 laps, I was ready to be done. I had 2.5 more to go! People started offering up 1 dollar bills so I started collecting my prize money!!

Since I was racing near the back, I decided to start collecting dollar bills people were holding out. Make that money! My favorite part of the course was the big wooden ramp you go up and down.

Montage