2009 CrosstoberFest 10/3/09 Race Recap by Chris Liebsch

This years Crosstoberfest was held at North SeaTac. The weather was fantastic for my 9:30 race, just a little cool, partly cloudy, and dry. Ragnarok did a great job with the course incorporating a good dose of single track, some short road sections, a half lap around the running track, a steep downhill followed by a quick U-turn to a sandy run up, and then about a mile later another run up up some railroad tie stairs.

A nice twist which only happened in my race, the 1st of the day, was the creation of an accidental figure 8 crossing between two waves of riders. On the 1st lap I came out of the woods to cross a road, and streaming by in front of me was the womens wave just 100 yards off the start line. I had to pause a few seconds for a break before darting through the wave to continue my race. From their curses, I could tell the course crew was a bit miffed, but I found it rather amusing.

Personal note: This is my 3rd year of cyclocross. The results of my 1st and 2nd year were almost identical. I would typically beat about 1/3 of the field in Cat 4 masters men 35+. My goal for this season was to break into the top 50% of the field. With this race I met that goal, placing 7th out of 24 (really...I did....if you check out the results, that unattached guy in 7th place, Chris Liebsen, is really me). Due to the name mix up I had to race again the following day to try and get my name officially in the top 50%. I was fortunate and had another good race at Lake Sammamish placing 23rd out of 68 with the correct team and name listed in the books. Now, with races every weekend through December, my goal now is to try and maintain this level of fitness.
~Chris Liebsch

TAI Race Results:

Master Men 4 35+ (4 laps)
7 Chris Liebsch