With the lady gone for the weekend I have been rather unstructured this weekend. 12 noon came upon me fast and the next thing I knew I was driving around Broomfield, CO looking for a bunch of cyclocrossers riding around in the mud drooling all over them selves. I found them with plenty of time but as I got dressed I began to wonder how long my bowl of grape nuts I ate 4 hours ago would last me? All day. That stuff should be illegal!
I previewed the course and it looked good for me. With some long flat, grass sections and only one (if a long one) running section. I warmed up a bit and it was time to roll. The weather was quite chilly, low 40’s, but the sun was strong as it always is out here. The start was… a cross start. Crashes, yelling, chains and gears make awful noises. I managed to avoid them taking the first turn on the flat grass start wide. I was around 15th or so as the field hit the single track/ bike path. I went all out for the first lap. I past several people on the clogged run up, hit the fast section that would bring us onto the large field and to the start/finish line.
Right about here I realized that I had not warmed up nearly enough. My lungs burned form the cold air and my mouth filled with flem. This made breathing rather hard as my nose was in the normal “working out in cold weather” situation. A minute or 2 of some professional hacking and I was square.
I focused on my own rhythm as what seemed like 20 people past me in my lactic acid over dosed state. I was blown but riding well, making it through the tricky section on the bike without loosing momentum. A few friends were there as giving me the status on where I was. “25th Ek, 2-5!” they yelled. That’s not bad I thought. I wanted to make top 20 as you need to be in the top 20 to get points for the series. I found a good pace and kept chugging away. Then I started catching people. “23rd EK, 2-3!!”. I was moving up. Keep pushing I told my self but I had to be cautious with my effort. Cyclocross is one high power acceleration after another. Go to hard and you’ll be standing still. Literally. I came by the finish with 1 lap to go. I put a little more into the legs. I had 2 people in sight to catch and 3 breathing down my neck. “No mistakes”, I thought. I could take a risk and gain 2 seconds or loose 30. I went with the steady, no mistakes strategy for the whole race. I was pulling away from my chasers on the non technical sections now and gaining on the riders in front of me. On the last run my legs felt like cement and I missed my shoulder with the bike. Still smooth I pasted one on the re-mount and another with 200 meters to go for 18th place.
I was broken. Lungs burning unable to take a deep breath without hacking and coughing. I was pleased. The course wasn’t to difficult letting me keep my rhythm better than the last race.
More racing to come next weekend!
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