Returning to the promised land. The plot of grass, hills and sand that was formerly the Mill Stone Golf Village is where I raced my first real 'cross race last season, and the site of last year's state championships. This course is tough. I liked it a lot better than last year though. I'm blaming that on increased fitness... thanks Andy!
The course this year was more compact. The golf cart paths were pretty much avoided as transition areas and only half of the available space was used. I liked that much more than last years course, which kind of felt like two courses connected by the cart paths and parking lot. It was bumpy and twisty. Capped off by two sections of sand, a long grassy climb and a short, steep paved climb 200m before the finish.
Day 1:
Picked my old man up from his apartment and dragged him along with me to Greenville. Made our way out nice and early. The B race was starting at 10, so the course was completely open from the time we got there until the start of the race. Got registered, chose my tires (Grifo 32 front/Grifo XS rear), spray glued my number on, peeled it off and glued it on the right side, and then took off for one final lap.
Maybe ten minutes before the race I took off for a lap with Andy Baker. I wanted to see how the fast guys were going to ride the course and see what kind of advice he could provide. He made a comment about me being too fast to ride the B race, I told him to wait and see.
About halfway around the course, they started calling riders to the line. So I cut across the course to get back over to staging and lined up on the second row to listen to our pre-race speech. Do people really not know all of this stuff?
Got off to a strong start. Found myself in the front group of four. Ran both sand sections and found it to be just as fast and easier than trying to ride it. Murdered the barriers (they were so fast!) and ran the grassy hill, I also think this was just as fast to run, maybe that was just me.
On the second lap my group was starting to get a bit spread out, but everyone was still pretty much in contact with each other. I still had visions of a strong finish-- top five, maybe a podium, but that all went to shit pretty quickly.
On one of the off-cambers after the first sand pit my front wheel bounced up and turned hard to the right. I hit the ground primarily on my right shoulder and face. When I got up to start moving again, my rear wheel wasn't turning. The brake cable popped out of the cable stop on the top of the frame. For whatever reason in my panic on the side of the course, I couldn't get it back in to save my life. I basically went from 4th to 12th in one corner.
When I finally got back up I tried to ride hard, but my heart just wasn't in it anymore. I got caught and passed by two guys, finished as hard as I could (mostly because of my dad yelling on the sideline) and went back to the van. I was frustrated, felt like I had good legs today and I lost it in a stupid crash. That's not fast.
14th today. Bummed.
Day 2: Feel free to take a break here. Come back and read the rest tomorrow. Or get a coffee or something... I'm long-winded.
Same exact course with one addition: a barrier at the base of the grassy hill. I was so pumped about it that I was telling everyone I saw how cool it was and thanking every volunteer I saw.
I made my mind up on I-385 that I needed to take some air out of my tires today. 38 in the front and 40 in the back yesterday seemed pretty standard, but I was going to push it today. Ran 35 front and rear (both Grifo 32 tubulars). I thought it would give me some more traction in the off cambers and hopefully smooth the course out a little bit. I was nervous about my amateur gluing but there was only one way to find out how strong it was...
I know it was only 3-5 psi, but it made all of the difference, I swear.
I finished my pre-race routine a little bit earlier than normal today. That gave me time to sit at the van and get juiced up and sort of focus a little bit. I sat in a puddle of spray adhesive, but other than that it was good. When I went to line up 5 minutes before the start, the entire group was there... FUCK!
I squeezed in on the far right, on the second row. I didn't have high hopes of the guy in front of me killing the start, so I figured I was going to have to be an asshole. I got more than I gave though and got pinched off on the outside. Finally pushed my way into the single file line of riders, probably in 10th-12th place. Small groups were starting to form about 1/3 of the way through the first lap. I figured I had surrendered another day to a mediocre result all because of a shit start. Again, I was frustrated.
I started passing people as safely and quickly as I could. I didn't want to kill anyone this early in the race. I was slowing down to get through a turn or an obstacle, and then standing and going around people when it straightened out. Two or three dudes through the barriers, two or three through the first sand, a ton of dudes in the long sand section.
After the long sand section, I came up on a group of fiveish guys. My buddy Pat from Cycle-Center was in it. I was giving him shit about botching a remount after the sand, but my goal was to get up to him and hopefully the two of us could drag each other up to the next group of people. I got around his group, but I didn't see him with me. Oh well.
I finally came up on a group of two guys. I stuck with them for a majority of the race. We were 3rd-5th on the course. I had successfully ridden from my modest start, to the position where I felt like I should have been. At one point in the race, I thought that my 5th place finish was secure. We weren't catching the two guys up the road, and I thought we had put everyone else away. I rode the third lap like it was the second to last, setting up for a strong last lap. The only problem with that strategy was that at the end of the 3rd lap, the sign said 2 to go, not 1. The leaders were smashing the field so thoroughly that we did a complete lap more than we did yesterday... damn.
On the fourth lap, my group splintered. The Greenville Spinners rider was riding the first sand pit every lap, and he gapped the other rider and myself. I then further fell off of the second guy in our group. Out of nowhere comes a Les Amis rider. So now, I have to ride an extra lap, my group has exploded, and someone caught us? Things were starting to get a bit hairy.
Les Amis (his name is Daniel Jones if you're into that sort of thing) and I went at each other for a little while. He might have been a hair faster than I was, but I think I was more skilled? Or something... I don't know. He would pass me in one section, I would get him back on the next. He got around me on one of the longer, flatter sections and I just wanted to get on his wheel but that didn't happen. I was now in 6th.
In true deja vu fashion, out of fucking nowhere comes PAT! I thought he was long gone after seeing him on that first lap. It turns out that he dropped his chain and lost a ton of ground. Dude powered his way through the course and caught back up to me. So last lap, I had Pat on my wheel, one rider in front of me. My goal today was top five, I had a fight on my hands.
Pat was encouraging me to catch the rider in front of us (mostly by saying things like "just one half lap until beer"). I was willing to do the work to get him and take my chances bringing Pat to the line. The three of us came to the run up together. I got around the first rider coming up the hill. Pat got around me on the top. I immediately jumped in behind him. After the run up, there was a long downhill paved section, sweeping right hand turn then a harder right hand turn going to that last steep hill. Pat HAMMERED this section, and when I got to the bottom of the hill, he was at the top. Maybe I could have caught him at the line, but I doubt it. So my plan backfired, Pat beat me to the line. At least I still got beer. 6th place.
I was happy today. Really happy. Even though I got a bad start, I was able to power my way through the course and get right back where I needed to be. I started in the top five yesterday and finished 14th. I started 14th today, and finished 6th. Go figure. I didn't go down today, but I still tore up my knuckle from hitting debris on the side of the course. Tape to tape, baby!
I was smooth and fast. Maybe I could have come out of the corners harder, maybe I could have started faster. Whatever. It was a pretty good day.
No races until the state champs on November 13th. Same course. I'll be ready for it.
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Georgia 'Cross: Augusta 10/10
I'm writing this more than a few days after it happened, and with moderate amounts of beer in my belly, so take that into account as you read.
Adam says: "No jumping, Justin. Only lifting of the legs, like Edwin Moses. NO JUMPING!" And I thought I had my technique down...
AUGUSTA 'CROSS 2k10!
Let me start by saying that Saturday was a complete bust. I woke up early and made my way towards Rock Hill for another training race (on the site of the future permanent cyclo-cross course-funding was approved Monday), about 15 minutes from Rock Hill my car started shaking and my check engine light came on. After consulting my resident mechanic/step dad we decided it best to turn around and head home... I was going to be late anyway.
So Sunday I woke up, not as early, packed the borrowed van (since my car wasn't making it out of state) with beer and bikes, grabbed the Cycle-Smart bouncer and headed down to Disgusta, GA for the second race of the Georgia 'Cross Series.
This was a bit of a different experience for me in that: 1. I had a teammate here; 2. There were people to hangout with whom I actually knew. CRAZY!
In all honesty, I was kind of taking the Georgia racing scene a bit lightly. I mean, I race in the NCCX! Those guys are hard as fuck! But, Georgia racing is nothing to scoff at and the boys and girls in Augusta set up a great course and there was plenty of competition.
The course started on an uphill pavement section, turned right off of the pavement towards an awesome run up, around a baseball infield, TWO sets of barriers, back around towards the pavement. The start/finish stretch was LONG, and this would prove to be bad for me later. There were nice transitions from the grass to the pavement, including two gravel sections that made things entertaining. The course wasn't about being punchy out of the corners, but getting through the obstacle, getting back up to speed and holding it for a long time. There were tons of sections where you'd go from 20mph to a near stop to navigate a turn.
I've been told to focus on my starts lately, so today I had plans to rape, pillage and burn everything once the whistle blew. Only problem: as I was ending my last lap of warm up, everyone had already lined up. We still had plenty of time before the start-- or at least we thought we did, my C-S teammate missed the start while making a bathroom stop. I assholed my way up to the second row and when we got going, I acted like I was running from the devil. A crash in the second turn made my job a little bit easier and after the run up I was in sixth and in the second group on the course.
By this point, I had glory in my eyes, I was planning on getting around the two dudes in front of me and bridging to the front group. At which point, I would work with them for the majority of the race before gapping them and winning on the last lap. Unfortunately, I never bridged up and about halfway through lap two I was feeling the effects of my start. I probably could have warmed up better...
Coming to the second turn on lap three, I had already been gapped, and I was looking for a faster line through the pinestraw. Except that trying to avoid the big ruts of straw put me in deeper piles of straw and sent me to the ground. Shortly after this I was caught and began losing places.
The more and more tired I got, the sloppier I got. At one point on the last lap, I literally could not get out of my left pedal coming to the first set of barriers. I slowed way, way down to get through the barriers cleanly. After the first two trips up that mountain of a run up, I was getting sloppy there too. Mistiming my dismount and taking longer to remount. Funny the things you start to do when you're tired.
On the last lap, I was riding in front of two of the ACC guys. One of them got around me on the pavement and his tire blew out just after transferring to the grass. I don't know what kind of pressure you have to run to make your tire explode like this, but it happened twice today... wtf?
The second dude bitched at me once about riding my brakes. My response was to ride the rest of the lap like a total asshole. Every time I felt him start to come around me I cut him off. I would have been happy putting him into the tape. Rubbin's racin, right? Plus, if I was so slow, why didn't he get around me? I led him all the way to the pavement on the start/finish stretch. I was basically just leading him out though. I kind of saw it coming and I was hoping to get on his wheel whenever he came around me to try to sprint at the line. When he passed me though, he made it seem like I was standing still and grab his wheel I did not.
Limped across in 12th. Not a terrible day. I would have been happy with 12th at this point last year, but I came into today with plans to finish top 5 (upgrade points!!!), so after such a strong start and such high goals, 12th was kind of disappointing.
Once I got across the tape I looked for a soft patch of ground and fell over. Dry heaved a couple of times and coughed a lot... so at least I know I gave it pretty much everything I had. Got back to the car to talk shit, tell lies and hangout for the rest of the day. Had a recovery New Belgium 1554 and gave out beer hand ups (just down the course there was a group giving out donuts, awesome). I've said it before, even on a bad day 'cross is more fun than any other racing discipline.
Greenville this weekend. I hate that golf course. It's going to be a hilly grass crit with sand. I don't like any part of that at all. After that I'm staying home for three weekends to get pumped for the State Championships and the North Carolina Grand Prix. Still hoping to race the 2/3 race at NCGP, but we'll see how it goes. I may just plan on upgrading after NCGP, before the big block of winter racing in December and January.
Still nine points till CX3.
Fellow Columbia 'cross enthusiast Mark Merrills' account is found here:
http://colabike.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-leg-hurts.html
And here's a helmet cam from the first race of the day, the masters race:
http://www.vimeo.com/15757717
Adam says: "No jumping, Justin. Only lifting of the legs, like Edwin Moses. NO JUMPING!" And I thought I had my technique down...AUGUSTA 'CROSS 2k10!
Let me start by saying that Saturday was a complete bust. I woke up early and made my way towards Rock Hill for another training race (on the site of the future permanent cyclo-cross course-funding was approved Monday), about 15 minutes from Rock Hill my car started shaking and my check engine light came on. After consulting my resident mechanic/step dad we decided it best to turn around and head home... I was going to be late anyway.
So Sunday I woke up, not as early, packed the borrowed van (since my car wasn't making it out of state) with beer and bikes, grabbed the Cycle-Smart bouncer and headed down to Disgusta, GA for the second race of the Georgia 'Cross Series.
This was a bit of a different experience for me in that: 1. I had a teammate here; 2. There were people to hangout with whom I actually knew. CRAZY!
In all honesty, I was kind of taking the Georgia racing scene a bit lightly. I mean, I race in the NCCX! Those guys are hard as fuck! But, Georgia racing is nothing to scoff at and the boys and girls in Augusta set up a great course and there was plenty of competition.
The course started on an uphill pavement section, turned right off of the pavement towards an awesome run up, around a baseball infield, TWO sets of barriers, back around towards the pavement. The start/finish stretch was LONG, and this would prove to be bad for me later. There were nice transitions from the grass to the pavement, including two gravel sections that made things entertaining. The course wasn't about being punchy out of the corners, but getting through the obstacle, getting back up to speed and holding it for a long time. There were tons of sections where you'd go from 20mph to a near stop to navigate a turn.
I've been told to focus on my starts lately, so today I had plans to rape, pillage and burn everything once the whistle blew. Only problem: as I was ending my last lap of warm up, everyone had already lined up. We still had plenty of time before the start-- or at least we thought we did, my C-S teammate missed the start while making a bathroom stop. I assholed my way up to the second row and when we got going, I acted like I was running from the devil. A crash in the second turn made my job a little bit easier and after the run up I was in sixth and in the second group on the course.
By this point, I had glory in my eyes, I was planning on getting around the two dudes in front of me and bridging to the front group. At which point, I would work with them for the majority of the race before gapping them and winning on the last lap. Unfortunately, I never bridged up and about halfway through lap two I was feeling the effects of my start. I probably could have warmed up better...
Coming to the second turn on lap three, I had already been gapped, and I was looking for a faster line through the pinestraw. Except that trying to avoid the big ruts of straw put me in deeper piles of straw and sent me to the ground. Shortly after this I was caught and began losing places.
The more and more tired I got, the sloppier I got. At one point on the last lap, I literally could not get out of my left pedal coming to the first set of barriers. I slowed way, way down to get through the barriers cleanly. After the first two trips up that mountain of a run up, I was getting sloppy there too. Mistiming my dismount and taking longer to remount. Funny the things you start to do when you're tired.
On the last lap, I was riding in front of two of the ACC guys. One of them got around me on the pavement and his tire blew out just after transferring to the grass. I don't know what kind of pressure you have to run to make your tire explode like this, but it happened twice today... wtf?
The second dude bitched at me once about riding my brakes. My response was to ride the rest of the lap like a total asshole. Every time I felt him start to come around me I cut him off. I would have been happy putting him into the tape. Rubbin's racin, right? Plus, if I was so slow, why didn't he get around me? I led him all the way to the pavement on the start/finish stretch. I was basically just leading him out though. I kind of saw it coming and I was hoping to get on his wheel whenever he came around me to try to sprint at the line. When he passed me though, he made it seem like I was standing still and grab his wheel I did not.
Limped across in 12th. Not a terrible day. I would have been happy with 12th at this point last year, but I came into today with plans to finish top 5 (upgrade points!!!), so after such a strong start and such high goals, 12th was kind of disappointing.
Once I got across the tape I looked for a soft patch of ground and fell over. Dry heaved a couple of times and coughed a lot... so at least I know I gave it pretty much everything I had. Got back to the car to talk shit, tell lies and hangout for the rest of the day. Had a recovery New Belgium 1554 and gave out beer hand ups (just down the course there was a group giving out donuts, awesome). I've said it before, even on a bad day 'cross is more fun than any other racing discipline.
Greenville this weekend. I hate that golf course. It's going to be a hilly grass crit with sand. I don't like any part of that at all. After that I'm staying home for three weekends to get pumped for the State Championships and the North Carolina Grand Prix. Still hoping to race the 2/3 race at NCGP, but we'll see how it goes. I may just plan on upgrading after NCGP, before the big block of winter racing in December and January.
Still nine points till CX3.
Fellow Columbia 'cross enthusiast Mark Merrills' account is found here:
http://colabike.blogspot.com/2010/10/my-leg-hurts.html
And here's a helmet cam from the first race of the day, the masters race:
http://www.vimeo.com/15757717
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Mud, Sweat and Gears- Kingsport, TN
It's finally arrived, cyclo-cross season.
Saturday morning I packed up my mom's minivan and we took a little family vacation up to Kingsport, TN for my first weekend of 'cross and the second weekend of Mud, Sweat and Gears.
It was kind of weird packing the bike, plus six wheels. I'm happy to say that the money I spent on a second set of 'cross tires was worth it, as I rode the Grifo XS Open Tubulars on Saturday.
The course was dry, mostly flat, and fast. The front half had some cyclo-cross elements, twisty turns up and down short hills, a single set of barriers, a fallen tree, and most importantly, the flyover of doom. The back half (after the barriers) was all about putting your head down and pedaling. The u-turn under the I-26 overpass was treacherous, but outside of that, nothing exciting.
Picking through the carnage on the first lap
Saturday morning I packed up my mom's minivan and we took a little family vacation up to Kingsport, TN for my first weekend of 'cross and the second weekend of Mud, Sweat and Gears.
It was kind of weird packing the bike, plus six wheels. I'm happy to say that the money I spent on a second set of 'cross tires was worth it, as I rode the Grifo XS Open Tubulars on Saturday.
The course was dry, mostly flat, and fast. The front half had some cyclo-cross elements, twisty turns up and down short hills, a single set of barriers, a fallen tree, and most importantly, the flyover of doom. The back half (after the barriers) was all about putting your head down and pedaling. The u-turn under the I-26 overpass was treacherous, but outside of that, nothing exciting.
Picking through the carnage on the first lapDay 1: Started on the far left, knowing that would give me the outside line heading into the first turn. Didn't have a great start and ended up somewhere around tenth?
After the u-turn at the end of the start stretch, the first technical piece we came to was the flyover. I don't know how it happened, but the shit hit the fan here. There was a pile up heading up the ramp. I dismounted rolling up to it and ran, both up and down the thing. I figured my chance at a top ten was over right there, but apparently I was still somewhere between 9th-11th, not shabby.
Rode the first lap smoothly. Made it through the twisty sections and all of the 'cross sections (the single run up, log and barriers) quite well, I'd say. Then came the half lap crit. I wasn't making any ground up here. Plus, I had already given up hope on finishing in the top ten. I was hoping for top 20 at this point, but in my head I thought that would be difficult.
The flyover was the bane of my existence today. On lap two, a rider came flying from behind me and made contact with my bars, pushing me into the rail on the top. Instead of hitting the rail and tumbling down the other side, I got off and ran down. On lap three, I lost just enough momentum on the transition to the top to have to put a foot down. On lap four, I pulled my brain out of my ass and rode the thing.
On the last lap I was riding in a group of five. I was sort of dangling off of the back coming into the barriers. I hit the barriers hard to make up the gap that way I could get around them in the flat section and try to make a race of it. I had no idea that it was a potential 14th place finish on the line, I just knew I was racing down to the last inch.
Well, hit the barriers hard I did. And the ground. I caught my foot on the first barrier and tripped. I've never tripped on a barrier. In fact, I consider myself quite skilled at 'cross specific skills. But, looks like there's a first time for everything. I wasn't far off of the back of the group after the fall, but my twisted handlebars and I just limped to the finish. 18th place in my first race of the season. Not terrible, but I thought I had more in me.
Day 2:
The flyover claims another victim
I didn't line up late today, everyone else lined up early. I was in the pits drinking some water and passing off my jacket when everyone lined up. I was on the second row today, and thought that I was just making my life harder than I should.
Course was exactly the same, EXCEPT that they moved the start line right behind the pits after the barriers. We were going to do a half lap (of the grass crit) before hitting the start/finish and doing four full laps.
It wasn't exactly wet out today, but the early morning dew and two previous morning races rutted up the course a little bit. Instead of fast twisties, they were slick(ish) twisties today. Grifo 32 tubulars today, in case you were wondering. You weren't.
Started off about 9th. I didn't want to completely smash the start since there wasn't any decisive feature until the flyover. I was in the front group and apparently the guys behind me were forcing an early selection. I heard a cacophony of brakes, bikes and course tape about 30 seconds in. Glad to hear that behind me for once.
We got to the flyover, no problem today. We got to the first section of twisties (technical term) and, OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The dude in front of me took a foot out at the top of every hill to make the turn. What a momentum killer. This created a bit of a gap from the leaders of the lead group. Coming around to ride under the flyover, the same dude went down, pretty much cutting off the whole course. I was irritated.
I smashed everything after this happened. Ended up about 7th and rode around with one other dude for the majority of the race. On the last lap he brake checked me going into one of the turns to head up a hill. After slowing down like that, I was in the totally wrong gear to make it up the hill, he simply hammered away. I was dangling off of his wheel when some sneaky junior just blew by me and bridged up to him. My original riding partner gapped me more by bunny hopping the downed tree, and the junior continued his crusade on everyone who could buy alcohol. Those guys rode away from me, and I just looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming behind me.
Finished 9th. I'm happy with a top ten. However, I think that I had the legs to finish better, but I made the decision not to do that by lining up on the second row.
I felt faster today. I was super smooth in the corners, but as the race went on my remounts felt a little sloppy. It didn't help that everytime I put my bike down, it was bouncing all over the place. Since it was such a fast course I was trying to stay hidden a little bit more today and not do so much work. However, if I would have tried a little bit harder to get pass the guy I was riding with, I may have finished 7th, or better even. If it means anything, we did a half a lap more than yesterday, but my heart rate monitor said the race was two minutes shorter. Fast.
The way my schedule looks right now, I don't know if I should still be planning to upgrade before November. I only have three races left in October, then three weekends off before the state championships. I don't know if having states as my first CX3 race is a good idea, but we'll figure it out. Just nine points to go...
I didn't crash, but I'm still bleeding. What's the deal?
After the u-turn at the end of the start stretch, the first technical piece we came to was the flyover. I don't know how it happened, but the shit hit the fan here. There was a pile up heading up the ramp. I dismounted rolling up to it and ran, both up and down the thing. I figured my chance at a top ten was over right there, but apparently I was still somewhere between 9th-11th, not shabby.
Rode the first lap smoothly. Made it through the twisty sections and all of the 'cross sections (the single run up, log and barriers) quite well, I'd say. Then came the half lap crit. I wasn't making any ground up here. Plus, I had already given up hope on finishing in the top ten. I was hoping for top 20 at this point, but in my head I thought that would be difficult.
The flyover was the bane of my existence today. On lap two, a rider came flying from behind me and made contact with my bars, pushing me into the rail on the top. Instead of hitting the rail and tumbling down the other side, I got off and ran down. On lap three, I lost just enough momentum on the transition to the top to have to put a foot down. On lap four, I pulled my brain out of my ass and rode the thing.
On the last lap I was riding in a group of five. I was sort of dangling off of the back coming into the barriers. I hit the barriers hard to make up the gap that way I could get around them in the flat section and try to make a race of it. I had no idea that it was a potential 14th place finish on the line, I just knew I was racing down to the last inch.
Well, hit the barriers hard I did. And the ground. I caught my foot on the first barrier and tripped. I've never tripped on a barrier. In fact, I consider myself quite skilled at 'cross specific skills. But, looks like there's a first time for everything. I wasn't far off of the back of the group after the fall, but my twisted handlebars and I just limped to the finish. 18th place in my first race of the season. Not terrible, but I thought I had more in me.
Day 2:
The flyover claims another victimI didn't line up late today, everyone else lined up early. I was in the pits drinking some water and passing off my jacket when everyone lined up. I was on the second row today, and thought that I was just making my life harder than I should.
Course was exactly the same, EXCEPT that they moved the start line right behind the pits after the barriers. We were going to do a half lap (of the grass crit) before hitting the start/finish and doing four full laps.
It wasn't exactly wet out today, but the early morning dew and two previous morning races rutted up the course a little bit. Instead of fast twisties, they were slick(ish) twisties today. Grifo 32 tubulars today, in case you were wondering. You weren't.
Started off about 9th. I didn't want to completely smash the start since there wasn't any decisive feature until the flyover. I was in the front group and apparently the guys behind me were forcing an early selection. I heard a cacophony of brakes, bikes and course tape about 30 seconds in. Glad to hear that behind me for once.
We got to the flyover, no problem today. We got to the first section of twisties (technical term) and, OH ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! The dude in front of me took a foot out at the top of every hill to make the turn. What a momentum killer. This created a bit of a gap from the leaders of the lead group. Coming around to ride under the flyover, the same dude went down, pretty much cutting off the whole course. I was irritated.
I smashed everything after this happened. Ended up about 7th and rode around with one other dude for the majority of the race. On the last lap he brake checked me going into one of the turns to head up a hill. After slowing down like that, I was in the totally wrong gear to make it up the hill, he simply hammered away. I was dangling off of his wheel when some sneaky junior just blew by me and bridged up to him. My original riding partner gapped me more by bunny hopping the downed tree, and the junior continued his crusade on everyone who could buy alcohol. Those guys rode away from me, and I just looked over my shoulder to see if anyone was coming behind me.
Finished 9th. I'm happy with a top ten. However, I think that I had the legs to finish better, but I made the decision not to do that by lining up on the second row.
I felt faster today. I was super smooth in the corners, but as the race went on my remounts felt a little sloppy. It didn't help that everytime I put my bike down, it was bouncing all over the place. Since it was such a fast course I was trying to stay hidden a little bit more today and not do so much work. However, if I would have tried a little bit harder to get pass the guy I was riding with, I may have finished 7th, or better even. If it means anything, we did a half a lap more than yesterday, but my heart rate monitor said the race was two minutes shorter. Fast.
The way my schedule looks right now, I don't know if I should still be planning to upgrade before November. I only have three races left in October, then three weekends off before the state championships. I don't know if having states as my first CX3 race is a good idea, but we'll figure it out. Just nine points to go...
I didn't crash, but I'm still bleeding. What's the deal?
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