Sunday, January 6, 2008

Cyclocross Race Weekend!!!

I decided to punish myself with some cyclocross racing this weekend. Bec and I went to Columbia TN for races Sat and Sunday, we took Nick on Saturday and he loved it. He was quite a good boy and got a lot of love from my teammates.
On Saturday it was about 45 degrees with occassional drizzle and a bit of wind. The course was in mostly open fields, with few technical turns, but it was bumpy and there was one spot where we had to dismount, jump over some barriers, and run uphill for 15 yards or so. It was awful. Walking might have been fast than how I "ran" up the hill. The worst part is we all though we were on our last lap, so we were riding ourselves silly just to find out we had one more lap left. The leaders sprinted it out to the line, just to be told they had one more lap. I think I'd have given a piece of my mind to the officials for that. In the end, I lost 2 places on the last lap to finish 11th out of 21. I pretty much ran out of gas (well I got plenty of that after Bec made chili later), but my energy reserves went quick in lap 5. Quite happy with the results, plus I didn't crash!!

Sunday it was much hotter (60's) and I was sweating all over myself. This race included drops into the woods on single track used my mountain bikers and with rain yesterday, the trail was muddy and I was sliding through corners. I never fell, but thought I might a few times. I went into the woods 15th of 15, but finished 10th. I passed 2 teammates in the process. I had a blast in this race because I passed one teammate on this long paved uphill climb (3 of 4 laps) and he passed me on the mud in the woods every time. On the last lap I passed him again on the big hill, making it look easy apparently as I was told how much he hated me at that moment. It was all fun and once we got up the hill and voer the barriers I thought we were going to fight to the line. He ended up giving up (phe) and I was way closer to the next racer in front of me then I thought. I gave everything I had, including a very fast hurdling of the last set of barriers, but he held me off. If I had another half lap, I'd have
caught him. I was feeling good for being near death.
One cross race next weekend (state championship race), then 2 races in the following weekend in Columbia again. It is hard, but a lot of fun. Still not sure what is wrong with me.
Props to Bec for the killer shots of me (see here) and my teammates (seen elsewhere).
Before start on Saturday, bit nervous, bit cold.

Cool and confident at the start Sunday.

Dying.


Sunday finish!
Jumping barrier.
Having fun??


Stopping to smile on Sunday?
Digging deep to hold my place on Saturday.

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