Race 1-start my warm-up and know its not my day. I know 5 minutes into my warm-up how my legs are feeling. Today as just one of those days where there is residual fatique and they are slow. I managed a front row call-up and did my best to screw it up. I took 5 pedalstrokes and sat down into a comfortable hour pace. Yup there went at least 40 guys in our 60 man field. Get to the top of the long road climb and take the inside line on the switchback. Mistake #2. Everyone passed me on the outside as I trackstanded to wait for guys to flow in. A large part of the course is 1-track, which made for slow going. The first 3 laps think Iceman sport class bunch-up in the singletrack. Oh well, I stayed calm and jumped off a few times to run by people. Lots of standing around. I spent the rest of the race playing catch-up. I managed a 5th place which wasn't too bad considering my start. I had 2 guys right in front of me, and 1st and 2nd(Katie Compton) were only a minute up.
Day 2-Legs feel great in my warm-up. I know it will be a good day. Decide to try hard and stand the entire start. Damn, I am looking around as I go into the woods in 3rd position. "Is everyone going slow, or did I actually do that right for once?" Ride 2 laps and 5 of us are in a front group. Then after 2 laps and just after the pit, I pop my tire remounting. I must have got on at a bad angle and also hit a bump. I was also playing around with tire pressures, and was a bit low. I managed to get the bead to seal back up in a spot and get rolling. My tire is sitting at 5 psi(at most). I babied it a hole lap, taking the corners oh so easy. Finally I get to the pit again after a million people pass me. Grab a friends bike. "Oh shit, this is weird." I ride a medium, this was an XL. Managed to get through the lap without killing myself. Switched bikes back in the pit after some Blue Sky Cycling guys quickly got on my bike and pumped the tire back up. Thanks! Now, make up some time. The leaders were way up the road, I was in the 30's. I did 3 more laps and worked my way back up to 18th. Good training and a fun event.
Superfans-Got out the camera and heckling skills to ridicule the open racers. There was a good group of people cheering on and giving racers shit. What a fun time. Some of the racers were getting into the festivities pretty well too. Thats what CX is all about.
I'll see if I can dig up some pictures of myself learning how to ride a bike. MTB race in the Junction this weekend. Hopefully I have good legs and race smart. A little luck won't hurt either.
PICS
Why is the bike in front of him?
Remount
Bunny Hop
Yup, Spencer should stick to hopping the barriers
Baker crushed it
As did Katie
but Kelli chased hard
2 comments:
Haha! You raced with my cousin (Spencer)! Small world.
He cleared the barriers every time on Saturday doing the bunny hop.
Small world-very true
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