I've done each version of the Hermann cyclocross race under the lights. They started doing them in 2008 and they are super fun. The the level of competition is usually quite high and the courses have always been very fast (mud race excepted).
The courses usually don't play into my "strengths". Long straights and flowing turns keep the speeds high and that is bad news for me. I don't have the power. Still, I like the race and I chose to do the Open race instead of Masters.
Despite being very sore today from the 4 dismounts per lap (twelve laps...you do the math!) I had a really good time. My start was good and I rode pretty well. I swear I saw stars a couple of times as I tried not to fall back too far. I was so deep in the red zone so many times. There was no rest anywhere on the course.
I was heckled into oblivion, too. I guess I should expect that, bringing a mountain bike to a cross race. I would like to remind many of those hecklers that there were quite a few guys in the Open race that were behind the mountain bike. I was 14th out of 32 starters and just 25 finishers. Just sayin'....
Maybe next year I'll race the master's category. I was the oldest guy in the Open race, not that age is the be-all in performance. But, I would like to race at the front of a Hermann Cross race just once.
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