2014 Cyclocross State Championships

On Sunday we traveled up to the north of the state to compete in the 2014 Cyclocross State Championships, yes, even though it was Father's Day (We figured we could make a day of it). 

After much debate and confusion over where we were actually driving to for the race, and figuring out how long it would take to drive up there for what seemed to be longer than the actual drive itself, we woke up super early, did a bit of Fathers Day stuff and then got in the car, off for a good couple of hours drive to Grindlewald. 

Once we had arrived at the race venue (a bit later then we had hoped for, even with all of the planning), I got into my warm-up and had a good chat with the other fellow juniors from up north. I also had a good talk to my new coach, Phil, from over at http://www.mymtbcoach.com/, as it was the first time we had formally met each other in person. 

The warm-up had been completed, the pre-race bantering had been had and we were on the start line. I'd entered Elite Men, even though U19 was still viable for me, but the other guys my age had done the same so I thought that would be poor of me to not do it too.

The gun went off, and very quickly it was evident that the race had already divided into its different groups. I was with Lack, Gregory and Kemp, closely followed by the other LMBC Pathway boys and Phil. However, after the first couple of laps, the second group caught up to us, with Lack riding off the front and breaking away.

I should also note that the Cyclocross State Champs in Tasmania did not have a restriction on the type of bike being used, so a lot of the bikes were actually mountain bikes rather then being true CX bikes.

Before long, something happened. As we rode along at a steady (enough) pace, we saw Lack in the distance, walking back to the line with a flat. All of a sudden, everyone realised what had actually happened, and now everyone wanted a chance at the win. We sped up. Quite substantially at that. Both Ferrier and I had dropped off the back as the pace proved too much and we feared risking blowing up. 

After a good 30 minutes in, it became evident that fatigue was setting in and it was becoming much harder to jump the obstacles. Ferrier however, was still flying high, as seen above.

The leading group had long left us, and we no longer had visibility of them - we had no idea how far in front they actually were. This led to a constant battle between both Ferrier and I, as neither one of us could drop the other, or when they could, couldn't hold the gap. 

It came down to the final lap, and we were still battling it out. It came down to a sprint finish, where Ferrier got me by a mighty 11 milliseconds. Fox took out Elite Men, who managed to stay in the leading group the whole time. 

In the end for the Elite Men Cyclocross State Champs, it was Sam Fox in 1st, Ewan Ferrier in 2nd and James Goodsell in 3rd. I was pretty stoked for my first State Championship event. 

Regardless of this being my first true state result, i'm really proud of achieving 3rd in the State Championships. A huge thank you goes out to everyone for all the support, being Cyclingo, Rowney Sports, Niner Oz and the VeloWear Cycling Team.

See you next year!