Walberg, Tilford defend their national cyclocross titles in the snow and mud

Catherine Walberg and Steve Tilford both hail from Topeka, Kan. The two defending cyclocross national champions train together, and they both race in the 45-49 age group.

However, in defending their age-group crowns at USA Cycling's National CycloCross Championships in Kansas City, Kan., in December, Walberg and Tilford had very dissimilar races.
 
Tilford's race went like this: he attacked from the gun, took the holeshot and never looked back. He was so far ahead by the end of the first lap in the 12.24k race, that nothing short of catastrophe could have taken the victory away from him.
 
But Tilford was familiar with catastrophe, or at least near catastrophe. Just days before the nationals, a vicious ice storm moved through the Midwest, glazing the course with a thin crust of ice. Despite the weather, organizers recorded 2,045 entries representing 45 states.

Once racing commenced, the ice broke into bits beneath the crush of riders and left a granular surface that was like riding on buckshot. The first races of the event carved deep ruts into the frozen, muddy 1.9-mile course. Just staying upright became the main objective. Sadistic fans lined the course's pressure points to eagerly wait for inevitable crashes and racers did not disappoint.

Nearly a calendar year earlier, on a day when temperatures were in the low 20's and on a course similar to the national championship course, Tilford had himself skidded onto the icy crust of a lake after losing control of his bike in a frozen, rutted patch of mud.

There he was, on hands and knees on top of the ice with his bike lying beside him. Then the ice broke and sent him waist-deep into the frigid water. The incident caused race promoters for this year's Nationals to erect a "No Tilly Zone" sign near the spot where Tilford took a plunge.

Perhaps obeying the sign, Tilford experienced no such incident this year and pedaled uneventfully to the win. He overcame, he saw, he conquered in commanding style -- as was expected. He outraced second-place finisher Kevin Hines from East Wareham, Mass., by a comfortable 1:50. And Tilford had enough left in the tank to go out a day later and place 29th in the elite men's championship.
 
On the other hand, if Walberg was going to win her age group, she was going to have to come from behind. Despite her diminutive size and gracious attitude, the 46-year-old Walberg gives the impression that she would sooner chew off her own limb than suffer second place. Out of 176 documented finishes from 1994-2007, she scored a whopping 82 victories in three different cycling disciplines.

So Walberg found it unsettling when she was trailing Kris Walker late in the women's 45-49 championship. Both Walberg and Walker had planned their entire 'cross seasons around winning the national title. Victory would go to the one who made the fewest mistakes on an unforgiving course. "This is a course about concentration and focus," Walberg said in a post-race interview. "You really have to think every single minute about 'Where's the line? Which line is fastest? Do I need to cross over? Do I need to stay up? Do I need to balance? Do I need to pedal hard? This is a huge thinking course -- very technical."

Walberg traveled the hour or so to the national championships with her most ardent supporter, her husband, Keith, from their home in Topeka. The curse to racing so close to home for Walberg, Tilford and apparently anyone else who races before a crowd of their supporters is the pressure to succeed and the potential for failure. What made all the difference between first and second place for Walberg were the people rooting for her from the sidelines.
"It's so noisy at cross races," Walberg said. "Yet, the voices from my close friends and family were crystal clear. Their voices were the only noise I heard.  I think that's weird given the raucous bell ringing crowds of 'cross races."

Walberg's biggest move came the final lap when she succeeded in getting around Walker and even splitting open the tiniest gap between herself and Walker. "I passed Kris about midway through the last lap on an especially thick, muddy section right before the barriers," Walberg said. "It was a power section of the course and I'd been working on power all season."

Before her successful attack on Walker, Walberg briefly considered settling for second. "The last lap, I completely shifted mentally from 'O.K., I guess it's second,' to 'I can win this race if I lay it all out there.' Steve must have been strategically placed, because he seemed to be at all the right places, where it's hard and you want to give up:  the muddy barriers, the run up, the last hill."

Walberg crossed the finish line eight seconds ahead of Walker and immediately burst into tears, overcome with how hard the race had been and how -- in the end -- it had worked out in her favor. "It's been a long time since I've had to reach so deep inside to win a race," Walberg said. "I was so shocked to be in second so soon into the race that it took me awhile to regain my confidence and come up with a revised game plan -- like go faster!"

Walberg got a lucky tip at the beginning of the season through a chance meeting with Kris Walker's husband at the inaugural "'Cross Vegas" elite national race in Las Vegas. He told her about Kris' achievements and training, and Walberg instantly realized that Walker could jeopardize her defense of the national title.

Walker came to Kansas all the way from Pocatello, Idaho, after having won the Utah Cyclocross Series. Fit and just as fast as Walberg, Walker stunned the crowd from the gun as the bolted ahead of the field and tightened her grip on a victory that seemed certain until the decisive final lap. "Well I knew I trained hard and I'm not too bad in technical stuff so I was optimistic," Walker said after the race. "I knew I had to worry about Catherine -- she's so strong and this is her home court."

When asked the training ad she couldn't live without, Walberg replied, "Steve Tilford." The men's 45-49 champion is an invaluable training partner.

"To be good at something you have to be in the environs of a 'master' of a discipline," Walberg said. "Steve is a master of cycling in every aspect. He's strategic; he's the best bike mechanic I've ever met; and he trains hard.  He leaves no detail to chance and he controls all you can control as it pertains to racing. The results spring from that attention to detail."

USA Cycling CycloCross National Championships
Age-Group Champions
Dec. 14-15, 2007, Kansas City, Kan.

W30-34 Maureen Bruno Roy, Arlington, Mass.
W35-39 Sue Butler, Portland, Ore.
W40-44 Shannon Gibson, El Paso, Texas
W45-49 Catherine Walberg, Topeka, Kan.
W50-54 Kathy Sarvary, Lunenburg, Mass.
W55-59 Diane Ostenso, Cottage Grove, Wis.
W60+ Julie Lockhart, Dunstable, Mass.
M30-34 Andy Jacques-Maynes, Capitola, Calif.
M35-39 Brandon Dwight, Boulder, Colo.
M40-44 James Coats, Campbell, Calif.
M45-49 Steve Tilford, Topeka, Kan.
M50-54 Edmund Overend, Durango, Colo.
M55-59 Fred Wittwer, Charlottesville, Va.
M60-64 Lewis Rollins, Salt Lake City
M65-69 R. Willmore, Seal Beach, Calif.
M70+ Walt Axthelm, Durango, Colo.