DNF at Observatory Park UTCX

Writing an honest blog sometimes means owning your failures as well as your successes. Today was not my best day on a bike, but I still rode a new cyclocross venue and I was happy to have Stephen there to provide logistical and moral support.

For many years, I have tried to make it down to Utah for at least one or two of the UTCX series races. Today’s race was at Observatory Park in Ogden which is home to some of Ogden’s permanent cyclocross features. Observatory Park is above Fort Buenaventura Park on the west. Today’s course dropped down into Buenaventura, returning by one of the most intimidating run-ups I have ever seen-long, steep, and muddy.  I have heard various explanations as to whether Observatory Park and the Ogden Cyclocross Park are two separate parks that run together or two names for the same park. Anyone who knows the answer to that question is welcome to comment.

Like both Bozeman and Boise, Observatory Park features a number of sizeable singletrack climbs and descents. But in contrast to the buttery smooth singletrack of the other venues, the Observatory Park singletrack is rough as hell. One of the guys that I started with today told me that most of the singletrack is new this year and is actually a lot smoother now than it was earlier in the season. Parts of the course were pretty muddy today with a layer of ice-over standing water-over deep mud along the bottom edge of the big hillside. After a couple of practice laps, it was all churned into a semi-solid.

I crashed out about two thirds of the way through the second lap in the wooded area shown in Stephen’s pictures. It happened on the Buenaventura side on a dropping left hand turn on wet leaves. I slid right and the rider behind came over the top of me landing on my front wheel. It was not badly damaged, but too far out of true to spin. When I go to a cross race, I generally take two wheelsets, one mounted up with mud tires, the other with dry tires. In light of yesterday’s heavy precipitation, I knew it would be muddy, so I left the second wheelset home. Even if I would have taken the extra wheelset, it is very unlikely that I would have had it in the pit area. My finishing rate for cross races is very close to 100% and I have gotten a little lazy.

I think people have a pretty good idea of how much I love my orange Kelson cross bike. It has been to hell and back through five Crushers, three Rebecca’s, a couple of Gravel Pursuits, and more cross races and local gravel rides than I can even remember. But the thing that modern bikes have that the orange bike lacks is disc brakes. Even in dry conditions, disc brakes are better, but the advantages of disc brakes over rim brakes become exponentially greater in really sloppy conditions like today. If you are considering a new cross bike, buy the model with disc brakes.

As a cyclocross venue, Observatory Park is spectator friendly and generally pretty promising. I am looking forward to returning but I will not be unhappy to have the singletrack break in a little more.