cross round #2
second time around at this cyclocross thing wasn't as successful as the first time around. not even close. perhaps it was the not riding at any sort of speed since starcrossed. or perhaps it wasn't eating much that day. or even the 3.5 hr ride the day before. whatever it was, it was ugly.
my first bad omen came when i rode win eventual winner, dan neyens and thought to myself "are we warming up for the same race?" cause his tempo was a little tough for me. its tough to kick those metabolic systems into gear if you haven't touched them in a while.
the course was cool. part of it was on a horse race track and i got to ride along that white rail. man, that was awesome. the rest of it was super bumpy, which didn't do me any favors. it had a tough run up. not sure how long, but it was steep and the footing was unsure. i walked it most of the times up. well, trudge is a better description.
anyway, the race started and i started in the back. i got a charging start and seemed to make up some ground, into the first corner. but then we hit the run up. i tried going left, and that was a really bad choice. it was super soft and i had to wait at a choke point. i returned to the back. shortly after, there was a crash in front of me and i fell trying to avoid it. i got back up though and was off. i was now riding nearly dead last.
i continued flailing about for a while but was able to grab onto dave richter (2003 masters state champ!) for a bit. but that run-up. man, what a beast. this second time around i really struggled. but i struggled even more to get clipped back in. i'm not particularly proficient at this and my system doesn't seem to tolerate hard packed dirt in them. and then i crashed again. in the same spot. i soldiered on, but my determination was waning.
i didn't really seem to have the power that i'd had three weeks earlier (shocking). but what was really killing me was the lack of energy. food. i need a feed zone. badly. third time up the run-up i started seeing stars and was practically crawling up. fourth time, i had to stop because the ground was spinning. this 'cross thing is hard!
luckily for me, i was lapped twice and so i didn't have to do the full race. i can't recall the last time that i cracked like that. my average lap time was more than nine minutes, two minutes longer than the winners, and good enough to place top five only in the 10-12 year old races.
i vow vengence next week at snohomish!
me, suffering all alone
the run-up. brutal, eh?
