 |
| Liam - Coupe de France Cyclocross |
Four and a half years ago, when we first arrived in France
Liam tried out a few cyclocross races.
We didn’t have a cyclocross bike, so Liam just took along his road bike
with normal tires and winged it. It was rough.
The races took place around rocky goat fields, or on hillside trails
that were better suited for hardcore mountain bikes. Many of the courses were
near impossible to ride on with a standard road bike. I talked to many of the other French parents
and they assured me that Cyclocross was fine on a regular bike “ just think of
the skills he will develop”…. Funny, that as I looked around at the bikes at
the races, not one of their kids had a road bike. In fact, they all had the latest Cross models
with light frames, fancy wheels, and super grippy tires. Uhmmm…
 |
| Cyclocross Mud - nothing like it |
Mud – mud is a key feature of many, if not most, cyclocross
races. I’m not talking about just a
little bit of mud, I’m talking five, six inches deep mud. Mud that clumps and sticks to the bike and
gets into the brakes; mud that can stop a regular road bike right in its
tracks. You see, another feature of a
cross bike that varies from a regular road bike is the brakes. Cross bikes have open wire or disc brakes
that leave a lot of clearance for the wheels.
This feature allows the wheels to continue to turn even when caked with
mud. Ultimately, after about a month of
frustration, it was this feature or lack of having this brake feature that led
us to buy Liam’s first dedicated cyclocross bike. Liam raced that bike for 5 cross seasons,
until, finally, at a race in Marseille last month it died. It was the first race that Liam has ever had
a DNF (did not finish) in.
After the bike broke beyond repair, we were faced with a
tough decision…skip cyclocross this year or invest in another bike. Cyclocross is not exactly Liam’s strength,
but he has grown to enjoy it more and more, and it has become a major part of
Liam’s “off” season in the winter. It
actually gets more complicated, because as the racing has gotten more advanced
Liam now needs two bikes for most races.
In really muddy conditions there is a pit on the course where riders are
allowed to change bikes every lap or so.
Between laps their crew frantically tries to get the bike as clean as
possible before the next exchange. As a side note, guess who gets the dirty job
of pit crew at these mud fests? Voila c’est moi. To make matters more pressing, Liam had the
opportunity to race on the Provence Cyclocross team at the upcoming Coupe de
France in Sisteron. It was a big race
with the best cyclocross racers in France competing, and it was coming up in
less than three weeks. We had to make a decision quickly. After a week of debate and some cyclocross
soul searching on both Liam and my part, we committed to this year’s cross
season. I say “we” because remember I’m
the pit crew.
 |
| Liam Rolling on the New Crockett |
A week before the Coupe de France we found a sweet Trek
Crockett 7 Disc Cyclocross bike at a local bike shop ( it was last year’s model
so we got a pretty good deal on it). We
got the bike on a Friday and the next day Liam was tearing it up at a race in
Saint Tropez. He was 5th
place in Saint Tropez. Not a bad result.
After Saint Tropez the rains came and they didn’t let up for a
continuous week. Liam had a second race
during that week on the Armistice Day holiday in Le Tour with another great top
ten result. It rained continuously for
the entire week. It was looking like the
Coupe de France was going to be a real mud fest. We went up to Sisteron the day before the
event to pick up the race number and to recon the course. We needed fly fishing wading boots to even
get around the course. It was crazy.
There were nearly 200 kids that were going to be in the Cadet race the
following day. I had seen some muddy
courses, but this was going to be insane.
The following day they had a draw for start position. Liam had bad luck with a last 18th
row start position. This meant that the
race for a top spot was literally over before it even began. In a race with such a large field on a narrow
course it is very difficult if not impossible to do well if you start from the
very back. Liam would have to look at this race as an opportunity to get some
great experience, see how many people he could pass, and have some good fun in
the mud.
.jpg) | |||
| Mud Fest - Sisteron |
We had borrowed Liam’s brother’s CX bike as a second bike,
and I was having a joyous time in the pits during the race. Liam would come through and we would
flawlessly get the bike exchange done.
After the exchange all hell would break loose. 200 people were frantically trying to clean off
derailleurs, chains, pedals, wheels, and the frames in general. I’m not sure who was more muddy : the racers
or the pit crews. It was a learning
experience. Liam finished 115th.
He was disappointed, but I told him to look on the bright side : he
didn’t break his bike! With all that mud,
derailleurs were popping of like bottle caps. Liam passed about 40 racers on his own, and the
other 40 that he passed were a result of broken bikes. Frances Mourey, the Champion of France and
one of the best riders in the world, broke his bike in the final lap of the
elite race. He had built an incredible
lead. He started running with the bike
to get to the line, but at the very last moment, inches from the finish, he was
passed and lost the win.
 |
| Frances Mourey in a sprint for the line |
 |
| Devastated to have lost the win - it was tough out there! |
Live Strong, Train Safe and Live Well!
This is Bill and Liam Signing out
