Cycling Tips & Stories

When Steve Tilford crashed his bike into an icy lake on the second lap of Sunday's KLM Marketing UCI Cyclocross Race, his first instinct was to get back on and start racing.

A warm blanket and some dry clothing would have to wait. The Trek-Volkswagen rider from Topeka, Kansas, had another epic chapter to write in his already-storied career, which includes five world mountain-bike and four national cyclo-cross titles.

Tilford tossed his waterlogged bike out of the lake and after just one lap on the 2.5km course had chased down and passed Brent Prenzlow (Celo Pacific-Salsa) en route to winning the second annual edition of the race at Kansas City's Wyandotte County Park.

The bizarre incident and his stunning comeback had even Tilford shaking his head in disbelief afterwards.

"I was on my hands and knees on the ice and my bike's laying there flat on it," Tilford said. "Then all of sudden, the ice broke through and I just went in up my waist and down to my shoulders."

Before his ice bath, Tilford was 20 seconds clear of Prenzlow after the first of eight laps in the 60-minute event. But on his second trip through a frozen, rutty patch of mud on the tree-lined course, he lost control and skidded out onto the ice.