Sunday, October 11, 2009

Still a rock star but not as rockin'



(Photos from EWWhite of the Dan Ryan Woods CX. First is run-up for 4A race. Second is the singletrack to the left of the run-up. I'm so jealous of the guys who were able to ride up!)

I did a total of three cross races this weekend. Man, I love cross. On Saturday, I trekked up to Grafton. It was a pretty cool course with a wicked climb. I made it up every time which was, in itself, somewhat of an accomplishment. But, I made a lot of stupid mistakes. I didn't give myself enough time to get up there, register, get my bike in the pit, warm-up etc. I had a very brief warmup. I noticed there was too little air in my back tire. I didn't have a pump but, of course, I could have borrowed one and didn't. And, at one point I turned too early into tape. Seventh out of seven. DFL. I did have a freakin' awesome start. I could have been more aggressive a few times and realized I'm getting killed by those climbs. Still fun.

Today was the Beverly Vee Pak race. They did an awesome job. Great course. Free food -- although some vegan options for next year would be appreciated by at least myself and Dave from Flatlandia. But, still, it was awesome (I know I just used that word) to have a course so close to home AND to be such a great course. Lots of turns -- I should be more descriptive but am too spent right now. A relative watched Christopher so Tom and I could both race at the same time so he could do the 3's. We got there early to pre-ride the course, sat in the car to warm ourselves up and then warmed-up.

My start wasn't great but not terrible. That hill run-up though. Man, I need to work on those even more than climbs. Three girls got by me there. I was 10th out of 12. Not horrible and I was pretty pleased with the results.

I had signed up for the Men's 4A race as well since the 4B race was filled. Tom went to pick up Christopher. Turns out I didn't grab enough Gu's. A huge thank you and shout out to Beverly Vee Pak for giving me a gel. Unfortunately, I can't remember who gave it to me at the moment. I forgot about the whole 70+ field thing and lined up later than I should. I think I was about third row. Far enough back that I got held up by the crash that happened immediately after the start. Before the hill run-up, I think there was nearly 5 crashes. I had a lot of fun but my seat got tilted when I hopped back on the bike and got progressively worse so it was pretty much sticking straight up by the end. I lost two places near the end of the race because it is really hard to remount your bike when your seat is like that. I was 63rd out of 68. I was really cranky immediately after the race, because of my seat, but am still pleased with how I raced.

It is so much fun racing with the 4's because I end up with, almost, my own fan club. Besides the people who know me that have stuck around, I also get cheering simply for being a girl. The people at the run-up were actually chanting my name the last lap -- I wish it would've made me speedier! By then, I was dragging. I love cross. = )
(Edit: first photo is not actually the run-up but the incline is similiar.)

2 comments:

Julie said...

that sounds like awesome fun!

PEANUT said...

your last sentence says it all!