star crossed
did my first cross race on saturday night. star crossed. what a blast. i caught a lot of flack for racing the "B" category. i really had no idea how i was going to do, since i'd barely ridden a cross bike, much less attempted to do so at any sort of speed. it turned out that everybody was right, my fitness as a cat1 far outweighed any lack of experience on the dirt. however, i still think i made the right choice as i was able to get my cross legs in an encouraging fashion. now i'll head out to the the "A"'s and see how i do.
the race was pretty much a blast. AD was announcing and had a great time calling me a sand bagger. i managed to not fall, which was a feat in itself. i think i enjoyed myself the most because i was thinking the whole time about how to take each corner better. i love new challenges.
i started off near the front but didn't get a super start. i worked my way up though, riding aggressively. i found the front group and reeled in a guy with a little gap. from there i basically rode on the front or second wheel, chasing breaks down. i was well within myself but trying to set a reasonable tempo. for a while i really eased up, hoping that a few of my hagens / berman compatriates would make it up. i didn't really want to be the guy burying them. a guy from counter ballance went off the front and we took turns keeping him close. we let a guy in all black do too much pace setting and the gap grew (perhaps secret teamates?) i was watching the gap and the laps and at two to go, i decided to start working hard, as i'd been chillin' until then. alas, i was not to catch him though, as i flatted shortly after, taking a bad line after remounting and smashing straight into a pavement lip and pinching my tube.
i didn't feel too bad though, because my objective was to try the whole thing out and have a bit of fun. i don't need the prizes and had foresworned to forgo them, should i have won. part of my competitive nature smarts at the fact that i didn't get to put in a real challenge for the win, but in reality, it would have proven little to chase that guy down, the sandbagger that i was.
but then i went out and raced the "A" race. i started at the back, briefly rode past a few guys and quickly faded back. i wasn't last, however. on one of the laps i rode by RMc (spectating), who said "front of one, back of another". yep, pretty much. i gave it what i had for as long as i could and was eventually lapped and yanked.
i had to wait a while to get my PBR, unfortunately.
