Possibly. Saturday, I gave a pass to Concordia Christmas Cross in order to run with Stephen. I was glad I did. I had a blast on the Chubb trail and was only mildly sore afterwards - the trail did not make a complete chump of me. The light dusting of snow made it the perfect wintertime workout.
Sunday - against my better judgment - I headed out to CXmas in Weldon Spring. I was more than a little worried that my paltry CX skills were not up to 31 miles of non-racing. I needn't have worried; it was freakin' awesome. White-knuckle descents on icy, gravely "roads", long climbs to gut out, Pabst, whisky, and egg nog aid stations, and a little mud thrown in all made for a perfect course. My skills weren't up to going fast, but I did stay upright and there were more than a couple people out on the course longer than me. And the best part were the other non-racers. Bumped in to a work colleague, Dan - I did not know he was a biker (and a good one at that). Hoisted a few with the Boz and King Furby at the finish line. Met a fellow SLUG, Laura. What's not to like? I wish every CX race was a non-race.
Monday, December 21, 2009
Monday, December 7, 2009
The (run) Ups and Downs of Cyclocross
My cyclocross career is off to an ignominious start. As promised, I built up the old Bianchi. I watched a couple of races and figured I was good to go. My debut was a desultory DNF on November 30th up at Bellefontaine Park. After a couple of practice rounds, I could not get the bike to function right at all. Compounding the sketchy condition of my bike, I started with the hardcore SS racers. I threw the chain twice in the 1st lap and never could get it back on.
Emboldened by that dismal effort, I straightened out the mechanical issues and headed down to Hermann for the State Championships yesterday morning. I once again made the mistake of starting with the hardcore SS types. They lost me like a bad habit the first time I had to dismount and I was quickly overtaken by the women and juniors as well. My last place finish was disappointing, but (and I mean this) there is nowhere to go but up. It was a very fun morning: I did not cause any wrecks and I stayed upright on a very slick course - on the whole it was a positive experience.
I see I need to practice some of the finer skills of the sport, like dismounting and remounting at a trot. And some interval work would not hurt. Although, I cannot understand why honking up hills in 20 F weather, in the dark of night hasn't conferred upon me some fitness. Cyclocross is pretty much anaerobic. But latching onto another rider does take one's mind off the oxygen debt. Maybe I can develop the technical skills to at least stay in the mix. Nevertheless, it has been terrific visiting with Boz and Keith and I think I almost have Uncle Bob ready to discover his inner Belgian.
Emboldened by that dismal effort, I straightened out the mechanical issues and headed down to Hermann for the State Championships yesterday morning. I once again made the mistake of starting with the hardcore SS types. They lost me like a bad habit the first time I had to dismount and I was quickly overtaken by the women and juniors as well. My last place finish was disappointing, but (and I mean this) there is nowhere to go but up. It was a very fun morning: I did not cause any wrecks and I stayed upright on a very slick course - on the whole it was a positive experience.
I see I need to practice some of the finer skills of the sport, like dismounting and remounting at a trot. And some interval work would not hurt. Although, I cannot understand why honking up hills in 20 F weather, in the dark of night hasn't conferred upon me some fitness. Cyclocross is pretty much anaerobic. But latching onto another rider does take one's mind off the oxygen debt. Maybe I can develop the technical skills to at least stay in the mix. Nevertheless, it has been terrific visiting with Boz and Keith and I think I almost have Uncle Bob ready to discover his inner Belgian.
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