Corkscrew Cross

Saturday brought on the first day of cross racing this year. Looks like I will only be able to do a handful of the races this year. BWAAAAA!

Arrived about an hour early to the venue. Got registered, dressed, pinned then grabbed the bike to get warmed up. Rode around with Nate for awhile. I'm sure he got tired of hearing me complain of how bad my legs felt and how little sleep I got the night before. Note to self: Mexican not a good idea for a pre-raceday meal.

While taking a couple of trips up and down the vineyard while waiting for the course to open up, the legs felt the furthest from good as humanly possible. Course opened and I hit it to try to shake the cobwebs out of them. The bell rings as they call the C's to the start line and I am made aware my number is upside down. F! The conversation between Jenn and I rolled back through my head.

Jenn - Which way does it go? This way?
Me - No, turn it around.

She had it right! I'm such an idiot sometimes. A nice A/B racer gave me a hand in getting it turned around before the start and then urged me to jump up front. I didn't heed his advice and stayed at the back with Nate where I jokingly told him that we had the best starting positions.

Race started and we all shot up the big climb on the course. The field of 20 quickly spread out and I started to make my move to the front. Was sitting about 7th first time entering the barriers where I proceeded to enter too quickly. Got off the bike, slammed the bike into the top of the first barrier, stumbled over the second and somehow still passed 4 people on the remount.

I could see the two gentlemen in front of me but knew I would have to really try to reel them back in. Crossed the line to finish lap one, hit the hill and decided, I would put in a good effort up the hill to bring them back and then just suck their wheels until I recovered. It worked! The gearing I brought with me was perfect! Sat on their wheels for the second lap. When we got back to the line and hill it became apparent to me I could charge the hill all day long. Big effort got me to the top with a sizeable gap. Thought I would have a second to gain my breathe but as I was exiting the barriers, I heard them entering. Took a look back to see how close they were.

Remounted and tried to take off. The NCVC cat pulled me in and we started to exchange pulls in hopes of seperating ourselves from the 3rd place. I let him pull me up the hill a couple of laps and then with about 3 laps to go, I put in one last hard charge up the climb. Took a look back once at the top and couldn't see NCVC. "Where is he I thought?" Stayed out of the saddle on the flat top, looked back only to get a huge burst of adrenaline. "I broke him!", I thought to myself.

The last couple of laps went by too quickly as I put everything I had into getting down the hill and back up again. Bell lap came, I shot up the hill probably the fastest of all the times up the hill, sprinted down the backside and kept telling myself, "Just don't fall". Well I didn't fall and I scored my first cyclocross win. Guess the start position wasn't so bad after all. Thanks to Maxxis and Carb-boom for making such great products which aided me on Saturday.

The win leaves me 7 upgrade points or 18 mass start races away from getting the upgrade to Cat 3 from 4. Sunday will be my next shot at gaining the elusive yet much desired upgrade points, when I hit up the Cobblestone Cross at Pole Green Park.

Lack of Posts ...

Sorry for the lack of posts in the past few weeks. The posts are almost equivalent to the amount of time my arse has been in the saddle. I have been able to get in a few good rides on the cross bike last week with another slated for this morning.

Going to be meeting up with Nate so we can both get fully accustomed to riding the cross bikes. Need a little practice getting on and off the bike in a timely manner and not falling on my face. Mostly because my dental insurance is not all that great and my wallet not heavy enough to pick up the slack.

Really wanted to be able to make it up to Iron Cross this year but alas I swore off cross racing for this year about 2 months ago. That was until last week when I built it back up. Well not entirely up. I left off all those pesky dérailleurs and shifters. Looks like I will be able to make 7 races here in VA throughout the season. First one is this Saturday at the Cooper Vineyards where the course description states, "This course is offers only a fewe short downhills and not much time for recovery." F-in great! As if cross doesn't take it all out of me as it is. Not sure my chest can take all the vomiting and heaving after the races that took place last year. Good thing I am in worst shape this year than last.

Going crazy without the time to get in a good ride until Saturday morning. How does one cope?

Catching Up

Seems like forever since I last updated. Truth be told there hasn't been too much riding done by me here lately. I was able to get out for the Heart of VA century ride this past weekend. I had begun the day with a time window of when I would have liked to have finished. The window was between 5 and 5 1/2 hours.

The ride started off in Ashland and would take us all over Henrico and Hanover before all was said and done. I started the ride alone and before I knew it, was starting to reel in some of the groups that had started a little before me. This worried me a little as since it had been so long since I had put in a long distance ride, I was a bit afraid I wouldn't be able to hold that pace until the end.

About 60 miles in was the "lunch stop" where I stopped for a banana and new bottles. There I ran into Cycles Ed. Stopped and chatted with him for a second before getting back on the bike. That's when my fears came to fruition. I no longer had the power in my legs to sustain the 21 mph average I had set before the stop. It was a long last 40 miles full of upper quad pain in my left leg. Limping towards the finish, I arrived 6 hours after I started.

Despite the discomfort towards the end of the ride I was pleased with my effort. Looks like I will need to get out for the longer rides more often. Hard to do though with the race season dwindling to an end. Any suggestions?

A clear radar for the Heart of VA ride this morning.

Riding w/ Others

Spent this week riding with others. I know this is somewhat of a new concept for me as my schedule usually forces me to ride when everyone else cannot. So when a chance comes up I usually take advantage of it.

Met Zach at the store Monday morning for a nice 22 mile loop through the Hanover/Henrico/Ashland area. Although I have ridden out there many a time, I still do not know where the town/county lines are. Oh well doesn't really matter until I look like a dumbass trying to explain a route I rode through "Ashland" the other day when it was really in "Henrico". Zach got the chance to rock his new Diadora's and might I say he looked a bit Tom Boonen-ish(I know Tom doesn't wear Diadora's). Maybe its because they rock the same build but probably more so because he put a hurting on me for the entire 22 miles.

Last night, Jenn and I loaded up the bikes once again and headed over to WestCreek. After her first ride last week, the concensus was we needed to bring the bars back to her just a little bit more. Grabbed what I described to the LBS as "a stem that is short, stumpy and has a lot of rise", she was much more comfortable on the bike. 18 miles last night and she is pumped and asking for more.

Blurry due to speed!

Thursday equals a rest day with a short ride on Friday to get the legs stretched out before Saturday's Heart of VA century. Legs are feeling a bit tired as always but am looking for my first ever sub 5 hr century.

Spent Labor Day weekend in Hickory, N.C. with Jenn while visiting her sister Aprill and soon to be husband Adam. Saturday was pretty laid back and which means my ass didn't leave the couch while we watched the opening weekend's worth of college football.

Sunday the girls pressured Adam into showing me some of the local trails. A pint of Jack Black the night before had him thinking he really would rather not but did anyway. We hit up South Mountain State Park. Wish he would have told him to pack my climbing legs. Ended up climbing about 1000ft every four miles until about the 10th mile or so and then as we all know, "What goes up, must come down!"

Pointed the bike down the hill and just held on. The Carver was handling great through the rough rocky sections which put that shit eating grin on my face. That was until, "psssssssssssssssssssss" and then silence once again. F! Reached in my jersey to grab the extra tube I had pulled from the bag and found many a pack of Jelly Belly Sport Bean. Double F! Did I lose it? Nope my opposite of brilliant tail left it sitting on the tailgate of the truck.

Started to run down the hill but then realized that I hate to run. Since the majority of the remaining loop was downhill, I decided I would just jump back on and nurse it back down the hill. Wasn't worried about the tire but more so the rim. Got to the bottom to find a little wear (surprise suprise) on the tire but none on the rim. Still as true as true can be!

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In other news, the final few pieces needed to finish up Jenn's first road bike arrived on Thursday and I was able to hang them before we left for Hickory. Looking forward to her first ride on Wed evening!

And just to leave everyone with component envy, I finally was able to complete the SRAM Force grouppo when I found these beautiful puppies awaiting my arrival back from NC. And to think it only took me a year to accomplish. Will get those installed this morning before heading to work.