and what a day it was. The weather was beautiful, morning started about 65F and mid afternoon was 82F, with mostly clear and sunny skies and variable winds.
They took out the really bumpy rumble strips and put in a pumpkin patch and turned the course backwards from Saturday. The steep run-up was now a downhill to a dry rutted up mud pit a 180 right turn to barrier and a small run-up. The steep downhill to off camber into the lake was now a dry fast off camber ride to a short steep uphill that was a blast.
I pre-rode the course before the first race. Breathing was great and the course had much better flow. Watched and cheered the Cat4 men for the first third of their race and went to get ready. Decided to go with the easton's and EF helped make sure my tire pressure was right.
the race starts as a "braveheart" start where everyone is about a hundred (?) yards into a field all lined up across this painted line and we have prime for the hole-shot. What a great way to start a race. Once into the tape you have an immediate 90 degree right hand turn and another 90 left. Talk about going all out to almost stopping craziness. Fun stuff! We ride into the apple orchard and do the first barriers. Switchbacks, all through the orchard is uphill, which I liked better as I was able to handle the turns better than yesterday when it was downhill. I was feeling good and felt I had a decent chance of completing the full race and not DFL. Ha, so much for that thought.
Coming out of the hole shot at the end of the first lap, I'm sprinting hard to get to the bottom of the hill before going into the orchard. In front of the officials tent I lost my front wheel and down I go. I sat for a second, a man came over and asked if I was ok as I was getting up and checking my bike. He took my bike over to the side of the course and I said something like, "don't help me I could be DQ'd" thinking I was going to ride. I'm looking at the hoods to see if they need adjusting and my right thigh starts burning. I look down at it and decide to sit back down on the ground. Yeah. The handlebar had frogged my quad, resulting in a huge hematoma. (internal bleeding). ARGH Oh well. The EMTs put icepacks on me, one of the them kept checking on me over the next couple of hours wanting me to go to hospital and get checked out. Eh, it'll be fine in a few days.
I know people think I'm a huge clutz and I won't disagree. However, what happened today to me almost happened to a fellow cyclist in a later race. Turns out there were some tree roots covered by the clover and I found one. These things happen. I started thinking how maybe I'm not suited for CX, but I've decided screw that. It's great fun and it's hard and soon enough it will be even better with nasty weather and lots of mud. Here's some footage of what CX is about.
http://www.vimeo.com/8723436
Guess I will buy a long dress or skirt for my daughter's wedding this Sunday. The shiner is looking better and concealer should take care of it.
The only thing I am upset about for today is that I couldn't cheer for my fellow cyclists. One friend came in first and I couldn't get over to see his podium. The ladies I raced with and hung with this weekend did great. and RF who raced her first ever yesterday got on the podium with third place today. Coolness beyond description. I love this sport and these people.
jam-packed week ahead
peace to all
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