KC, December 2000
Kansans on Podium at Nationals
KU's Jed Schneider won the gold medal and the national collegiate cyclocross title, and LBCR's
Madeline Finch of Lawrence and Suzanne Johnson of St. Louis were among seven Kansas racers who won
medals by finishing in the top five in their categories at last weekend's USCF National Cyclocross
Championships at Stoll Park in Overland Park, KS.
It was a beautiful weekend for Kansas cycling, right down to the arctic conditions and wind
chills near -30F. In women's masters racing, Johnson, a Kansas City native now living in St.
Louis, was fifth in the 30-34 race, and Finch took fifth behind Trudi Roberts of Topeka
(Wheatland), who finished fourth in the 40-44 race. Topeka's Catherine Walberg (Ameritech) was
fourth in the 35-39 event, and Glenda Taylor of Topeka (Wheatland) won the silver medal with a
second-place finish in 45-49.
On the men's side, four-time US cross champ Steve Tilford of Topeka (Jogmate) was fifth in the men's
elite race. Tilford was part of a six-man break which made the decisive move on the second of seven
laps, then survived numerous attacks by Saturn's Tim Johnson, defending US champ Marc Gullickson
(Mongoose) and Johnson's Saturn teammate Mark McCormack before unleashing a blistering attack of his
own as the break came onto the start/finish area on the fourth of seven laps. The team of Johnson
and McCormack, however, proved too much for all but Gullickson, who pulled away with Johnson with
two laps to go. Johnson then opened up a 15-second gap, attacking Gully with 1.5 laps to go take
the stars and stripes jersey and the gold medal. "I really didn't have any bad falls," said Johnson,
"but I had lots of 'dabs' because of the
ice. The cold weather wasn't really a problem, but the ice and wind together sucked because of the
off-camber turns. My front tire really felt like it was getting light." Asked about Tilford's
fourth-lap attack, Gullickson said simply, "Tilford was awesome." Dale Knapp of Tacoma, WA,
(Kona) finished fourth.
A disappointed Tilford admitted that with the weather conditions and the
strength of the field, it could have been worse. "I fell several times,
and each time I'd get up and chase back on, but I'd be winded by the time I got back," Tilford said
in the finish area after the race. Meanwhile, Johnson and Gullickson rode near-perfect races to
finish gold
and silver, respectively.
"Timmy almost fell once right in front of me," recalled Tilford, "but he
rode a good race. This wasn't my best race. I had better fitness than this (fifth)." With four
veterans of world cyclocross championship competition (two with US cross titles already under their
belts) in the top spots, a better finish would have been a tall order at any rate.
Schneider, the defending Kansas state cyclocross champ and two-time national collegiate mountain
biking silver medalist, overcame a difficult start and an early crash to chase down race leader Todd
Shoberg (Lindsey Wilson College, Columbia, KY), then attacked Shoberg hard with two laps to go.
"Todd stayed with me for a while but I finally jumped hard and Todd crashed trying to follow,"
recalled Schneider in describing his winning ride. Schneider suffered through the men's elite ride
on Saturday, and raced again in the SuperCup finals
on Sunday, but, after capturing the collegiate gold, the rest of the weekend was "gravy."
But the real action took place Saturday morning in the sublime deep-freeze of the men's B race, by
whose 10:30 start time a morning sleet had combined with 30-mph winds and a quarter-inch layer of
solid ice to create conditions that made me want to shout, "Mush!" I arrived barely in time to pick
up my kit and hop on the bike for a quick skate/warmup lap. I pulled up to the back of the start
chute about 2 nanoseconds before the start whistle. 86 starters.
Since, presumably to allow time for the Zamboni to finish the course, I didn't get a call-up at the
start line, I was obliged to make my way from near the back row, where I was joined by LBCR's Matt
McKillip along
the right-side fence. Also riding for LBCR in the B's were Rick Finley and Shadd Smith (fresh off
his strong finish at the Florida Ironman Triathlon). The jockeying for position on the start grid
was almost as ferocious as the conditions, because everyone knew that position would be crucial,
given the likelihood of more than a few crashes--and how!
Sure enough, at the whistle--yard sale! Still under the start banner, about 20 guys went straight
down, rear wheels spinning out from under them as if someone had pulled the ground out from under
us. Did I mention that there was some ice? Matt and I managed to stay upright, but the course was
practically blocked by the bikes and riders scattered
all over the place. So, as the holeshooters dropped onto the grass section 100 meters ahead, we
waited for the course to clear and settled into about eleventy-two hundredth place. Goodbye podium.
Shadd survived the paddock melee in the top twenty.
Nevertheless, unwilling to be cheated out of the masochistic thrills which make psychlocross so
worthwhile, I started crashing immediately. At the first hill, I went down as Rick Finley passed on
my outside, then managed to pass him as we both low-sided on an icy off-camber left-turn in the
second half of the course. It was here that I began to catch some of the riders, usually by simply
riding over them as they slipped and went down right in front of me. I know, I
know...it's not polite to ride over other guys, but it's not as if I could have turned or anything.
Besides, traction was much better on the
riders and/or their machines than on the icy ground.
At the end of the first lap, Rick, Matt, and Oz rider Bret Sehorn were all with me as we crossed the
line. Bret was a few lengths ahead of me until he decided to get out of the saddle on the pavement.
Whoops! Bret went down, scoring major style points with his 20-mph rubber-side-up, booty-side-down
and slick remount, righting himself and the bike while sliding across the line a la James Brown. He
also swept from the rink what little sand hadn't been blown away by the howling north crosswinds
which lashed the chute area.
During the second lap, Rick made some hard pushes, and Matt passed me, too. I noticed that my
cassette wasn't engaging its pawls, so that I'd spend a few pedal revs waiting for the gears to
catch after I freewheeled or soft-pedaled. Perhaps the chunks of frozen oil weren't lubricating so
well in there. The surprising anti-jolt of pedaling against zero resistance had me tripodding all
over the course, but I managed to keep up with Rick and Bret until the last lap, where Bret
unleashed a hard attack at the end of the pavement before the "frozen tundra" section, which ended
with triple barricades just before the finish sprint. He shot past me, accelerating in the last
meters before the grass then pedaling hard downwind toward the barriers and the final turn onto the
finishing straight. I took his wheel and sat on him across the north end of the course, knowing that
I'd have the advantage with my silky BUTTAH-smooth hurdling. He aced the backstretch chicane and
opened a gap, but I closed two bike lengths at the last triple and pulled onto the finish stretch
with a one-length lead. I couldn't restrain myself from getting out of the saddle with the line in
sight, and when I did I almost went down as my rear wheel lost traction-- the ice was so slippery I
kept expecting to see a goalie up ahead. Bret easily took advantage of my slip, coming around me
with 100 meters to go to take 35th place and the coveted yellow socks (provided he could
catch one of the hundred or so pairs thrown into the crowd at the mondo swagfest after the race). 48
finishers classified.
No animals were harmed during the production of this story, although some events have been
embellished to make you look.
I've lived in Seattle, St. Louis and Lawrence, and I think KC would be a
good city for cross natz again, especially had it been this year. In fact, three of the last four
Decembers have been raced in short sleeves--just that one crappy blizzard. KC has a very cool
midtown area near some new courses.
I visited Baltimore and Boston for the first times this year--I liked both of those cities--a
lot. By comparison, the midwest's advantage is geographic, and while the KC cross scene is pretty
damn good here (no comparison to NE and left coast), I enjoy both Chicago and St. L as cities
more than KC.
Cheers,
Eric Lawrence, KS
