SICX Recap from Evan Murphy

I Pretty much went into the Staten CX race stoked out of my mind: the shop sponsors it, it’s less than an hour from my house, and the weather was perfect.  I registered for both the Elite and Singlespeed races, you know, to have fun and support the event as much as possible.  Bad call.  Not only did my attempt at converting a Bianchi Pista to an SSCX (SingleSpeed Cyclocross) machine fail at the 11th hour, but I seriously can’t recommend racing cyclocross for almost two hours without a break, you will be destroyed.

I will say that my singlespeed race went well, though. I was riding a geared bike CX bike whose shift levers had been zip-tied to immobility.  I set it up with a 42 x 19 gear ratio, which I found out is way too high (i.e. difficult).  There was this crazy woods section on the backside of the course with roots, sand, and softball sized rocks all over the place, running a single gear meant you basically ran the entire section.  Cool.  I was only going to ride a few laps until finding a reason to pull out when all of a sudden I found myself in 4th place.  How can you not keep going after seeing 1st in your sights?? So I hammered on, riding my ridiculously high gear into 3rd place, congrats to NYC favorite Austin Horse for powering away to the win. I actually heard people yell at me, “Austin’s hair is better than your’s!” So, is that the secret…

So after finishing my first CX podium placing ever, I hear them starting call-ups in the Elite race.  One banana and an Honest Tea later, I’m literally on the front row for the start.  What?! Yeah I don’t even know how, but imagine, “Erik Tonkin, Dan Chabanov, and . . . Evan Murphy!.” Fear in my heart, nothing in my legs and no business getting a front row call-up I drift to the back after a lap or so.  I’m just gassed at this point, hanging on whatever wheel passes me for 10 seconds before getting dropped.  The sand run is starting to really break me down after my 10th time doing it. My one source of pride I will squeeze out of the race was riding the rooted and steep run-up in the woods every single lap.  Oh yeah. Finished 14th which isn’t bad considering everything else, and actually right where crossresults.com seeded me, go figure.

Thanks to CJ and the whole SICX crew for putting on a very fun race and getting people out to Staten Island for New York City’s only cyclocross race.  I learned a valuable lesson on Saturday: if I want any chance at a good result in my Elite race, don’t do any other races that day.  It seems obvious but sometimes you just have to learn the hard way.  Next week I’m heading east to Super Cross Cup, another race NYC Velo proudly supports. I will be doing only one race, each day. Come say hello!